One of the most iconic players in college football history wanted to play for Tennessee, but Lane Kiffin messed it up
The Lane Kiffin era on Rocky Top was fun, but it wasn’t very fruitful for the Tennessee Vols.
The brief Lane Kiffin era on Rocky Top feels like a fever dream in retrospect for Tennessee Vols fans.
It was short. It was weird. It was fun. It was chaotic, and it ultimately left no lasting legacy beyond Kiffin nearly sinking the program with recruiting violations before he left for USC.
It’s been 16 years since Kiffin’s abrupt departure from Tennessee, and there are still bizarre stories that pop up from time to time.
Another one of those bizarre stories popped up this week.
Tennessee could’ve signed Tyrann Mathieu, but Lane Kiffin didn’t offer him
Former LSU Tigers defensive back Tyrann Mathieu — better known as the honey badger in those days — said on the In the Bayou Podcast this week that he was interested in playing for the Volunteers, but he never received an offer from Kiffin — now the head coach at LSU — despite a dominant camp performance at Tennessee.
“You know what’s funny? You know who the coach was? Lane Kiffin,” said Mathieu. “I absolutely dominated that football camp, and this dude still didn’t give me a scholarship. My grandma used to say, ‘Son just stay alive, though, you might see it again.’ It’s just crazy that I’m back around him now. I mean, he’s coaching my school. And we’ve got to have a relationship because of who I am and who he is. But I think back about not getting a scholarship at Tennessee. I really felt some type of way about that.”
The honey badger could’ve been a dominant player for the Vols. But Kiffin, for whatever reason, apparently didn’t feel the same way.
Here’s what VolQuest’s Brent Hubbs said in 2009 about Mathieu’s performance at that camp.
“Halfway through Tuesday’s camp, the buzz was growing,” wrote Hubbs. “Who was the guy in the purple shorts playing cornerback? Other campers didn’t know his name, so they just started saying that he was ‘the truth’ or ‘the real deal.’ With each rep, the audience watching New Orleans defensive back Tyrann Mathieu was growing. And the audience got a full show as Mathieu excelled all afternoon and got every rep possible, even jumping to the front of the line at times.”
In Kiffin’s defense, Mathieu wasn’t initially a highly rated recruit. And there were concerns about whether he’d be academically eligible. But I’m not sure that’s why Kiffin passed on him. After all, Kiffin signed safety Janzen Jackson, who was later sentenced to 11 years in prison for manslaughter, so it’s not like makeup was a big concern for the coach at the time.
Mathieu ended up committing to LSU after he was offered a scholarship by then-Tigers head coach Les Miles following a great camp performance. Oddly enough, former Vols assistant coach David Johnson, who coached at Tennessee in 2018 and 2019, was Mathieu’s high school coach at St Augustine in New Orleans.
Tennessee Volunteers News
LSU Tigers head coach Lane Kiffin has the Tennessee Vols on his mind yet again
LSU Tigers head coach Lane Kiffin had the Tennessee Vols on his mind yet again on Wednesday morning. Kiffin, who was the head coach at Tennessee in 2009 before leaving for USC, loves tweeting about the Vols. The controversial head coach never hesitates to send a Vol-related tweet — whether he’s in Knoxville to kidnap […]
