Tennessee will not be losing one of its top potential playmakers for the 2025 season, after all.

Mike Matthews, a former five-star prospect that is expected to bolster the Vols’ wide receiving room in 2025, will return to the team after reports indicated that he was going to enter the transfer portal.

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VolQuest was the first to report.

Matthews was the headliner of Tennessee’s 2024 signing class. He was rated at the No. 30 player nationally and fourth in Georgia where he starred at Parkview High School.

The 6-foot-2, 197-pound Matthews picked the Vols over a number of high-profile programs and made the most of his limited contributions during Tennessee’s run to the College Football Playoff.

He had seven catches for 90 yards and two touchdowns, including a 14-yard score thrown by Nico Iamaleava in the Vols’ 36-23 win over Vanderbilt.

MORE FROM VOLREPORT: Projecting Tennessee's depth chart following transfer portal departures

Reports of Matthews’ intentions to enter the portal surfaced around midnight last Saturday after the transfer portal window closed, but as of Sunday morning he had not signed the necessary papers to make it official.

Tennessee lost five scholarship receivers in Kaleb Webb, Squirrel White, Chas Nimrod, Nathan Leacock and Nate Spillman to the portal since it opened earlier this month as well as Bru McCoy and Dont’e Thornton Jr., who are both out of eligibility.

The Vols return Matthews, Braylon Staley and Chris Brazzell II as the three top targets for Iamaleava heading into the spring, with Boo Carter reportedly expected to split reps between defense and offense after playing exclusively in the secondary as a freshman.

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