Over the past decade, the Southeastern Conference has supplied the professional ranks with some of the top receivers in the world.
A quick recap: A.J. Green (Georgia), Julio Jones (Alabama) and Dwayne Bowe (LSU) have all made their marks in the NFL, not to mention the likes of Alshon Jeffrey (South Carolina), Reuben Randle (LSU) and Cordarrelle Patterson (Tennessee) from the past two draft classes.
But none of those names matched Vanderbilt's Jordan Matthews' most recent accomplishment.
The 6-foot-3 senior and highly-regarded NFL draft prospect placed his name at the of the conference's all-time receiving list with a 17-yard completion against Texas A&M, surpassing former Georgia star Terrence Edwards' SEC record of 3,093 yards.
Here's the company Matthews now finds himself atop of (career receiving yards):
Jordan Matthews, Vanderbilt: TBDTerrence Edwards, Georgia: 3,093Alshon Jeffrey, South Carolina: 3,042Josh Reed, LSU: 3,001Boo Mitchell, Vanderbilt: 2,964
After a quiet freshman season in which he posted just 181 yards and four touchdowns, Matthews has become a model of consistency for head coach James Franklin's offense. He put up 778 yards in his sophomore season before breaking out as a conference star last year with 94 catches and 1,323 yards. Coming into Saturday's game, Matthews had already amassed 798 yards and five touchdowns despite being the focal point of an offense missing some top players and operating under a new QB.
It looks like he's next in a growing line of SEC receivers making a difference in the professional ranks.
