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Tennessee football: 10 most underappreciated Vols in school history

By Caleb Calhoun

6 Dec 1997: Peerless Price #37 of Tennessee runs into the endzone for a touchdown during the Volunteers 30-29 win over Auburn in the SEC Championship at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia.
6 Dec 1997: Peerless Price #37 of Tennessee runs into the endzone for a touchdown during the Volunteers 30-29 win over Auburn in the SEC Championship at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. /
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Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images /

Bobby Majors and Deon Grant are Tennessee football legends for their interceptions. Majors set a school record with 10 in 1970, and Grant was a superstar with nine in 1999. But between the two of them was a guy who also belongs on that list and was a key member of one of the most beloved Vols teams of all time.

Chris White was a superstar on the adored 1985 Tennessee Vols. Despite no NFL career and never receiving mention from many Vols fans, he was as important as anybody on that team. You shouldn’t even mention that team without mentioning him, but many of us do.

I didn’t even think of him at first, but Marky Billson of 1420 NBC Sports Radio Tri-Cities mentioned him to me recently. Looking him up, it’s ridiculous that he does not get more coverage for how great he was.

White had nine interceptions for the Vols that year, leading the NCAA. He also returned one for a touchdown. But he somehow never got a chance at an NFL career. And while so many members of that 1985 Vols team get tons of recognition, White doesn’t even have his own wikipedia page!

That is a travesty. An objective look at his efforts that year make him worthy of more consideration, but he doesn’t get it. So that’s why we’re here. Tennessee football should do more to remember how great he was. Again, there’s no way the 1985 Vols win the SEC title, go 9-2-1 and blowout the Miami Hurricanes in the Sugar Bowl without him.

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