2024 top-10 prospect Mike Matthews visiting Alabama this weekend

On3 imageby:Drew Schott10/06/22

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Lilburn (Ga.) Parkview four-star athlete Mike Matthews will be visiting Alabama this weekend for the Crimson Tide’s game against Texas A&M, he announced on Thursday.

Matthews is the No. 8 overall prospect and No. 1 athlete in the 2024 cycle, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He is also the No. 2 player in Georgia. 

“The Crimson Tide, [it’s] really self-explanatory,” Matthews recently told Mike Singer of Blue and Gold. “Just a great atmosphere, a great team, just known for being great. That’s always been a top school for me. Being able to sit down and talk to (head) coach (Nick) Saban, how how he (knows your) name, everything that I’m good at above all, things like that, it’s really interesting to me.”

According the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine, Georgia has a slight early lead for Matthews’ commitment at 30%. Clemson has the next-best chance at 26.3%.

RPM was released to the public in December. The On3 engineering group teamed up with Spiny.ai to create the industry’s first algorithm and machine learning-based product to predict where athletes will attend college. 

It factors in machine learning, social sentiment, visits and historical trends. However, expert predictions are still a big piece of the RPM equation.

A 6-foot, 180-pound prospect, Matthews has an On3 NIL Valuation of $129K. The On3 NIL Valuation is an index that looks to set the standard market value for both high school and college-level athletes. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.

For more Alabama recruiting intel, check out BamaInsider.

Mike Matthews has started his junior season off strong

In one of his most recent games, Matthews notched a 62-yard touchdown. He also had an impressive performance on Sept. 23 against Hoschton (Ga.) Mill Creek. The four-star recorded a 99-yard touchdown reception and reeled in a catch over five-star safety and Alabama commit Caleb Downs, the No. 11 overall prospect in the 2023 On300.

Additionally, Matthews turned heads in his season-opener by notching multiple receiving touchdowns and an interception. On3 Director of Scouting and Rankings Charles Power had high praise for Matthews’ play that night. 

“Mike Matthews showed off his advanced coordination and functional athleticism on Wednesday night in his junior season opener,” Power wrote. “The Lilburn (Ga.) Parkview standout was completely dominant in the first-half of a blowout win, making a number of impressive grabs in rainy conditions. Matthews easily beat man coverage on two touchdown grabs, elevated for an interception in traffic and tracked a wet football over his shoulder on a long reception. He finished with six catches for 111 yards and two touchdowns and the interception.”