Tennessee Volunteers Football: Ranking The Vol Traditions
By Zach Ragan
8. Game Maxims
General Robert Neyland is responsible for the seven game maxims that are recited by Tennessee players before each and every game.
The game maxims are posted in the Vol’s locker room and are one of the many lasting legacies of Neyland Stadium’s namsake — General Robert Neyland
- The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.
- Play for and make the breaks and when one comes your way – SCORE.
- If at first the game – or the breaks – go against you, don’t let up… put on more steam.
- Protect our kickers, our QB, our lead and our ball game.
- Ball, oskie, cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle… for this is the WINNING EDGE.
- Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.
- Carry the fight to our opponent and keep it there for 60 minutes.
7. Pride Of The Southland Band
Nov 10, 2012; Knoxville, TN, USA; Members of the Tennessee Volunteers marching band performs on the field prior to the game against the Missouri Tigers at Neyland Stadium. Missouri defeated Tennessee 51-48 in quadruple overtime. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports
Tennessee’s band, The Pride of the Southland Band, has been in existence for over 100 years, since 1869. Which makes it one of the oldest bands in the country.
The band performs a pre-game show before every home game that is rivaled by few. The performance lasts just under seven minutes and begins with the “Tennessee Waltz”, it concludes with the band forming the floating UT and eventually the Power T, before the team runs out onto the field.
The Pride of the Southland band has represented the state of Tennessee at 13 presidential inaugurations.
6. I Will Give My All For Tennessee Today
Just before running out onto the field, Tennessee players slap the iconic “I will give my all for Tennessee today!” sign.
This tradition, while not unique to Tennessee (other schools, such as Notre Dame have similar traditions), has spawned a countless number of signs and shirts that Vol nation frequently embraces.
It also happened to inspire the name of this website!