Tennessee football: Vols top 30 players since 1998 national championship

Now we go to our third-straight Tennessee football player who was an All-American on the 2004 team that went 10-3 and won the SEC East. Kevin Burnett was a staple of the Vols on defense almost his entire time in Knoxville.

Recruited as a free safety, Burnett switched to linebacker as a freshman and saw limited action while learning the position. He became a rotational member in 2004 behind Keyon Whiteside and Eddie Moore, starting two games and seeing lots of action.

With Dominique Stevenson leaving after 2001, 2002 was supposed to be his breakout year. But a season-ending injury in the opener against the Wyoming Cowboys cut that short. He had to wait until 2003.

When 2003 came, however, he burst onto the scene. Starting alongside Kevin Simon and Robert Peace, Burnett had 90 tackles, a forced fumble, seven and a half tackles for a loss, one and a half sacks and three pass breakups. The team went 10-3 and won a share of the SEC East. It was strong enough campaign by Burnett for him to be named All-SEC.

But the next year, with Simon suffering a season-ending injury again and Peace graduating, Burnett was the star of the show. He had to carry a team relying on two true-freshman quarterbacks and eventually Rick Clausen, which we’ve already discussed at length here, en route to an SEC East championship.

For the year, Burnett registered 120 tackles with six tackles for a loss, a sack, two pass breakups, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries. His involvement all over the field earned him All-American honors.

One notable moment from Burnett that year came after the Vols lost 34-10 to the Auburn Tigers. They were 3-1 at the time, and that same Saturday, the Georgia Bulldogs, who were No. 3, had blown out the defending national champion LSU Tigers. UGA was set to host the Vols the next week, a team it had beaten four-straight times. With a senior quarterback on the Dawgs, while the Vols were alternating between freshmen, the favorite was obvious.

However, Burnett, after the loss and with that Georgia game looming, guaranteed his team would see Auburn again in the SEC Championship, essentially guaranteeing an upset in Athens. The prediction came true, as UT won the game at Georgia and won the SEC East in the process. It was a huge moment for Tennessee football and another reason to put Burnett on here.