7 Best Tennessee Volunteers Football Players

The Tennessee Volunteers are one of the programs that’ll always remain atop the football odds as they always find ways to succeed. Moving forward, they’ll aim to be a favourite to win the national title here at BetMGM online sportsbook. If they were to win, it would be their first national championship since 1998. 

Throughout the program’s history, there have been numerous dominant players, including Peyton Manning. One can’t help but wonder how popular the Vols would’ve been to wager on if college football betting was around then. 

I already spoiled it with Manning, but besides him, there have been numerous legendary players to come through their ranks.

Below, I’ll list the top seven Volunteers of all time.

7 Best Tennessee Volunteers Football Players 

1. Peyton Manning

I’m not even sure where to begin with Manning. We all know he had multiple decades of success in the NFL, and his dominance with the Volunteers led up to that. 

To this day, Manning holds program records for passing yards (11,201), passing touchdowns (89), pass attempts (1,381), pass completions (863), total offence (11,020), and touchdowns responsible for (101).

During his time with Tennessee, Manning won the following awards and accolades:

• Maxwell award
• Davey O’Brien Award
• Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award
• James E. Sullivan Award
• William V. Campbell Trophy
• Consensus All-American
• Two-time third-team All-American
• SEC Player of the Year
• SEC Freshman of the Year
• Two-time first-team All-SEC
• Second-team All-SEC

Tennessee retired his No. 16, and today, he’s a member of the University of Tennessee Athletics, Louisiana Sports, Colorado Sports, Tennessee Sports, Pro Football, and College Football Hall of Fame.

He finished inside the top eight in Heisman voting for three straight years and was runner-up in 1997. 

2. Reggie White

Reggie White had nearly 200 sacks in the NFL, but before that, like Manning, he had a sensational stint with the Volunteers. 

Today, he ranks second in program history in sacks with 32, holds the single-season record with 15.0, and has the second-most sacks in a single game with four in 1983 against Citadel. He held the sack record until Derek Barnett broke it in 2016. 

In 1983, he was a unanimous All-American, the SEC Player of the Year, and first-team All-SEC. 

His No. 92 was retired by the university. 

3. Johnny Majors

Majors played for the Volunteers from 1954 to 1956, eventually becoming the head coach in 1977 and staying until 1992.

Majors did a bit of everything statistically: 

• Passing: Completed 80 of 148 passes for 1,135 yards, 10 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. 
• Rushing: 386 carries for 1,622 yards and 15 touchdowns. 
• Punts: Had 83 punts go for 3,246 yards. 
• Returns: Had 51 total returns between kickoffs and punts for nearly 800 yards and one punt return touchdown. 
• Defense: Recorded two interceptions. 

Majors was named the 1955 and 1956 SEC Player of the Year and finished second in the Heisman voting to Paul Hornung in 1956 despite Hornung’s Notre Dame Fighting Irish having a 2-8 record. 

To this day, Hornung is the only player to win the Heisman on a losing team.

Majors went on to coach the Volunteers to three SEC championships. 

4. Doug Atkins

A member of the 1951 national championship team, Atkins was also a first-team All-American, a two-time first-team All-SEC honoree, and his No. 91 was retired by Tennessee. 

Playing defensive end, Atkins recorded three interceptions, one of them for a touchdown, and even had a punt return for a touchdown. 

In those days, statistics like sacks were unfortunately not kept, but by all accounts, Atkins was a dominant defender. 

He’s in both the Pro Football and College Football Hall of Fame. 

5. Al Wilson

Wilson had an eight-year NFL career with the Denver Broncos after going No. 31 overall in the 1999 NFL Draft. To get there, he first had a top-five all-time Volunteers career. 

He was the team captain during their 1998 national title run and was a consensus All-American and first-team All-SEC selection that year. He was also first-team All-SEC in 1997. 

With the Vols, Wilson played 42 games, had 272 tackles, 27 tackles for loss, 11 sacks, eight forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, 10 pass breakups, and two interceptions. 

6. Eric Berry

In three seasons with Tennesse in the mid-and late-2000s, Berry finished with 14 interceptions, which ties him for fourth in program history. Half of that total came in the 2008 season. 

When his career at Tennessee was all said and done, he also recorded 245 total tackles, 17.5 tackles for loss, three sacks, and three pick-sixes. 

He won the Jim Thorpe Award and was the SEC Defensive Player of the Year in 2008, was a two-time unanimous All-American, two-time Jack Tatum Trophy Winner, and was named first-team All-SEC twice and second-team once. 

The Kansas City Chiefs selected him as the No. 5 overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, and he played through the 2018 season. 

7. Jason Witten

Witten arrived in Tennessee in 2000 and stayed through the 2022 season, playing 36 games. 

During that span, he caught 68 passes for 797 yards and seven touchdowns. 

What made this even more impressive is that he committed to Tennessee initially as a defensive end but converted to a tight end. He set school records for receptions and receiving yards by a tight end. 

As a defensive end commit, Witten was also a standout blocker at the position, which made him even more available to the team. 

Witten went on to play 17 seasons in the NFL where he was named to 11 Pro Bowls. 

Witten, a first-team All-SEC recipient in 2002, is in the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.