Tennessee football: Vols 5 deepest NFL Draft years following losing seasons
1. 2006
2005 Tennessee football record: 5-6 (3-5)
NFL Draft picks: 5
- Jason Allen, Safety, Miami Dolphins (Round 1, pick 16)
- Parys Haralson, Defensive end, San Francisco 49ers (Round 5, pick 140)
- Omar Gaither, Linebacker, Philadelphia Eagles (Round 5, pick 168)
- Jesse Mahelona, Defensive tackle, Tennessee Titans (Round 5, pick 169)
- Kevin Simon, Linebacker, Washington Redskins (Round 7, pick 250)
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The 2012 Tennessee football team went 5-7 despite being loaded on offense due to major issues on defense. Well, seven years earlier, the first season that really signaled the end of the elite Vols run from the late 1980s to the early 2000s saw the opposite. This team was loaded with defense.
Ranked No. 3 in the preseason, the Vols so much returning talent. But the offense had a quarterback controversy it never solved between Erik Ainge and Rick Clausen. That combined with lack of depth at the skill positions and the lack of commitment to staying in shape by the offensive line that summer was enough of a recipe for disaster.
And just like that, it fell apart. The 2012 Vols broke 35 points in five SEC road games but lost four of five, including all all three road games they did it in. In 2005, they held opponents to under 20 points in five SEC games, and they lost three of them. That included a 6-3 loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide and 16-7 loss to the Florida Gators.
Defense was elite all year, but those structural offensive issues could not be overcome. However, the defensive players did overcome it for their career, and five members of that unit were taken in the 2006 NFL Draft.
Next. Top 30 Vols players since 1998. dark
The real story was how elite the overall talent was for Tennessee football this year and how badly it underachieved. Phillip Fulmer was fired in 2008, but so much NFL talent on defense wasted by bad offense ended Randy Sanders’s tenure here. That was really the beginning of the downward slide for Fulmer.