Mikey Matthews transfer reason

[Yergensen]

“I decided to transfer because I felt the offensive scheme wasn’t right for me. They don’t throw the ball a lot.”

Mikey

[MDUte]

He’s not wrong. Our identity is on running the ball to open things up for opportunistic passing.Utah strives for a balanced, ball-control offense which isn’t exactly a magnet for highly talented WRs.

[Charlie]

2023 was a strange year where we struggled to pass the ball. Next year I think we return to ideal with 50% passing, he may have needed to wait. I think 50/50 with a very good RB benefits WRs more than an offense that passes most of the time.

[ProudUte]

Makes sense. But, I hope we pass a lot more in 2024.

[MDUte]

If there was ever a year to give our QB the green light to sling it…this would be the year!Not sure we’ll ever have another star QB with Cam’s level of experience as a 7th year senior and 3 year starter.

[RoboUte]

We will… to tight ends.

[Anfernee]

“Utah ranked 117th nationally in passing offense last fall, in part because of a season-long injury to quarterback Cam Rising.” Cal was 72. With SJSU and Wisconsin just above them…🙄

[Utah]

Look, if you are a NFL player, you will get catches at Utah…and a lot of them.
Tim Patrick – 45 catches in an injury plagued season
Carrington – 70 catches
Covey – 60 catches
Covey 52 catches
Kuithe – 50
Kincaid – 36
Vele – 55 catches
Kincaid – 70 catches

If you are good, you will get catches. Plain and simple.

[Rick]

Best of luck to him in the prolific passing offense of Justin Wilcox! LOL! Mikey is just a big meh for me. I moved on from him the second he announced he was entering the portal.

[The Miami Ute]

Whoever’s advising Matthews should be fired. I mean, Utah played all of last year with the 3rd and 4th string QBs. Did Matthews not see how much Utah threw the ball during the 2021 and 2022 seasons? And he thinks that his situation is going to change because he transferred to the offensive juggernaut known as Cal? Allow me to effect surprise. I smell another transfer situation for Mikey after the 2024 season. Maybe he’ll end up at Boise State and be happy.

[Phatmanandy]

I think the primary reason he came was because he saw the passing offense from the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Last year was a total fluke in the system. It happens when you have a 3rd and 4th string QB. Totally bummed that he decided to move on, he filled that Covey role nicely and I think he would have had a big year this year. Oh well. I’m going to cheer for the guys here this season.

A famous coach once said “I wish him nothing”

[MDUte]

I think he (and/or whoever was advising him) saw him as being worth more from an NIL perspective than he was. He entered the transfer portal which basically signaled to Utah he was done, however, that “grass is greener” opportunity didn’t present itself as he and his advisor thought. Hence the move to Cal because it was the best they ended up being able to do. Too bad for him because it’s not only a big step down from where he was at with Utah but I too saw him having an opportunity for a big year in the Slot with Cam coming back. Very short-sighted.

[RoboUte]

Maybe he knows he’s one bad hit from a second season just like year’s. And maybe he thinks that a silly gamble to take with his future. Could you blame him? According to Whitt our backup QB race is “neck and neck” and whoever it is couldn’t beat out two QBs who led us to an almost FBS worst offense. So if they’re tied with each other or really even anywhere close to one another it’s extremely safe to assume the gap between our QB1 and QB2 is probably best measured in light years. Does that feel like a chance he should be taking when he has all the ability not to? Put yourself in his shoes. He only gets so many chances to shine and for him his whole life is riding on it right now. We don’t have to pretend Utah is going to start airing it out this year when we know what we’re going to get.

[Central Coast Ute]

If that’s the situation at Utah, imagine what one bad hit at Cal looks like.

[RoboUte]

IDK I’m not going to call Cal QBU or anything but They’ve put Goff (who now has a body of work better than the best we’ve ever put into the league) and Aaron Rodgers into the league in the last 20 years. Not only do I not rate our QB room above Cal’s, based on what it achieved last year (and frankly what I’ve seen it do for the last 15 years) I’m hard pressed to confidently rank it over anyone’s. For years Utah has succeed in spite of it’s QB play until it scored Huntely and Rising. And the falloff after those two is impossible to overstate. The best backup QB we’ve ever had in Whitt’s tenure, aside from the time Whitt made Cam the backup (holy s**t talk about bad QB decisions) is Jason Shelley. Legitimately the only serviceable backup we’ve had in our run in the PAC. He’s probably followed by Lisk… I’ll let that speak for itself.

Add that to the fact that not only does this young man know the state of our QB room by virtue of being on the team. He worked directly with all of them daily. You think he doesn’t know wtf is up with our offense? Dudes forgotten more about it than we know. Now ask yourself why someone like that makes the decision he does.

[MDUte]

Wow! I never thought about it like this before. But you’ve literally cracked the code…if Mikey Matthews decided to leave the team then you’re right…this could only mean he knew Utah was going to suck next year.

We’re all doomed! Don’t bother following the team next year…it’s going to be a complete waste of time. Utah might not even make a bowl game, next year’s going to be such a blood bath! Out of curiosity, what did your decoder ring say about JJ leaving for SMU?? No wait…I don’t want to know, the truth hurts too much.

[RoboUte]

I think we’ll be pretty good next year. We’ll just also be perilously close to ruin. Though accepting those two concepts together requires a level of cognition that your childhood clearly didn’t prepare you for. My condolences.

Regarding Ja’Quinden Jackson an insider on this very board had this to say about his departure:

“He has a sizable NIL offer elsewhere. Basically we either match or exceed it or he’s gone. Currently seems more likely that he leaves, but he could also just be leveraging other offers to get more $ without leaving. Just a lot of
bags out there to be had.

On another note, NJ wasn’t the only one who had strong feelings about the way QB situation was handled.”

Luckily for me I can keep the decoder ring stowed. This one’s not exactly hidden. It was one of those situations where the writing was really on the wall. Matthews leaving appears to be purely him trying to put up numbers for a chance at the league. Fair enough, right? There’s no terribly painful truth to Matthews leaving at all. Though I do find it funny that you’d bring up somebody whose departure does have one… kinda shooting yourself in the foot here. You could’ve picked Owen Chambliss or something.

[MDUte]

I find it funny that you find it funny. I picked JJ because we all know the reason why he transferred…just like we know that Matthews didn’t transfer because of your make-believe conclusions. But I guess your childhood didn’t adequately prepare you with the cognitive ability to process that much sarcasm all at once. My condolences.

[RoboUte]

Not that I expected your reasoning to make any sense, but the idea of you seething at the keyboard at 6 am to confirm that is kind of depressing.

[MDUte]

Hahaha “seething at the keyboard”….You shouldn’t use big words you don’t know the meaning of unless you don’t mind coming across as being stupid. Nothing in my last post comes even remotely close to meeting that definition.

[RoboUte]

I will make a note that two syllables is where you begin to be uncomfortable. Letters may seem scary sometimes when they appear in big groups together. But remember that they’re our friends and they’re only here to help.

[RedUte14]

This MDute guy is a very emotional person. probably suffers from a narcissistic disorder if I had to guess. I am not joking. I would mostly ignore him. He loves to insult others peoples perspectives and ideas that he views beneath him. (Narcissist)

Also MDute it is pretty pathetic you are up so early typing to people on here. It is like those middle aged facebook women.

[MDUte]

Pretty pathetic that I start my day at 6 am on the East Coast?? Sorry, you’re such a pathetic loser.

[RedUte14]

see what I mean everyone?

I started my day at 5am. Does that make you more loser than me?

The pathetic part is one of your first thoughts of the day is to insult somebody on a sport forum.

[Central Coast Ute]

Jeez man that’s like saying byu is better than Utah at everything because of what happened with past coaching staffs. You do realize everything is different now, right?

[RoboUte]

How is saying that Matthews may be well served by transferring to a historically pass friendly team the same as saying BYU is better than us at everything? You’ll have to help me with that leap.

[Central Coast Ute]

It’s the same principle. Historically, Utah has an amazing basketball program. We can’t say that anymore. Neither can Cal.

[RoboUte]

It depends on how historically you mean then I guess. It’s not like Goff, for example, is ancient history. But I do think part of perception stays. Utah may someday change to be a more pass heavy team. But before their perception as a run first school changes that has to sustain for some time. At that point even though the old Utah is gone the past will still affect them in real ways, recruiting being an obvious one. In that way it becomes sort of self fulfilling. I haven’t looked though, is Cal not a passing team anymore?

Also historically Utah is better than BYU, all time head to head don’t lie.

[Rick Walker]

We’re pretty close to a decade removed from Jared Goff being in college

[RoboUte]

Yet they pass in 10% more of their plays than us even still. Should you call them up and tell them Goff’s gone? Maybe they haven’t noticed. Or perhaps there’s more to it? Aw who knows, right?

Utah pass% in 23: 36
Cal pass% in 23: 46

Utah pass% in 22: 44
Call pass% in 22: 59

On top of that a higher percentage of Cal’s passes are going to wide receivers.

Last year we let them have the scraps we actually did throw. Utah passed to WRs 66% of the time. Cal came in 69%.

In 2022 (Cam’s back) Utah passed to wrs 46% of the time. In 22 cal passed to them 68% of the time.

Cal’s throwing more and throwing it at Matthews’s position more. The natural conclusion is therefore that BYU is better than Utah. Wait, what?

[2008 National Champ]

Spavital was the OC for Cal during the Goff/Webb years and last year. What they ran in 2023 is more similar to that era than the Wilcox offenses with his other OC’s.

[UtahUtesRock]

He’s a kid so I think you’d need to cut him some slack but man what a short-sighted reason if that’s truly what the reason was. Cam was out, Barnes was in and out with Johnson and then Bottari played a game. If I’m a wide receiver looking at last year, I’m throwing it out. That’s just not how the offense is going to look.

It was early in the process but I wonder if Mikey saw the writing on the wall with Kuithe, King, Pittman and Parks coming back, and for that matter if he knew they’d be looking to pull talent out of the portal. The current receiving depth between receivers and tight ends is PLENTY of talented. We’ll be just fine.

[Anfernee]

“No truck and no snow, but Matthews is excited to be at Cal.”

Great news then, Mikey! Cal Berkeley is snowflake central. Badum-tss 🥁

[Author]

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