Kelsey Pope got creative this offseason.
The Tennessee wide receivers coach wanted to improve his group’s focus at the catch point. His solution? Buy roughly 25 eye patches and send his receivers to work catching passes with one eye covered.
The unusual drill was inspired by something Pope heard on a podcast.
“I was watching a podcast late and they talked about triggering different stimulus in your brain and covering one eye,” Pope said. “The guys gravitated to it, and so we bought about 25 eye patches and been going to work ever since.”
Mike Matthews was one of the biggest reasons Pope went searching for different methods.
Matthews entered his junior season as one of Tennessee’s top offensive weapons, but Pope believed eliminating drops could unlock another level for the former five-star receiver.
He didn’t view Matthews’ drops as a physical limitation.
“I don’t think it was a hand-eye coordination issue,” Pope said. “It was more of a focus issue than true hand-eye coordination.”
So Tennessee went outside the box.
Pope said the Vols covered one of Matthews’ eyes and had him catch “a thousand balls” as part of their summer work.
The payoff started to show Saturday.
Matthews overcame an early drop against Furman and later hauled in two deep touchdown passes as Tennessee pulled away in the second half.
For Pope, the response mattered as much as the catches.
He pointed to Matthews’ offseason transformation as an example of what can happen when talent is paired with consistent work. Pope said people throughout Tennessee’s program have noticed a different version of Matthews.
“Everybody around the building has top to bottom said like Mike is a completely different person,” Pope said. “And I think when you get that, you get an even better football player.”
That development gives Tennessee’s younger receivers something tangible to follow.
Pope specifically mentioned Tristen Keys and Tyreek King while describing Matthews as “proof of concept.” It’s the same lesson Pope said he once used former Tennessee receivers Cedric Tillman, Jalin Hyatt and Dont’e Thornton to teach.
“If I do it the right way, if I listen to my coaches, if I trust what they’re telling me, there is success on the other side,” Pope said. “That’s proof of concept.”
This time, Matthews is the example.
And part of the work behind it involved an eye patch, hundreds of repetitions, and an offseason emphasis on making every catch a matter of focus.
