Tennessee football: Top 10 Vols who weren’t first round NFL Draft picks

Before John Gordy, there was Jack Stroud. A member of the late 1940s Robert Neyland teams, Stroud helped return Tennessee football to major prominence as Neyland came back. And his key year was 1950.

That was the season in which the Vols won their first of back to back national championships. They lost their second game of the year to the Mississippi State Bulldogs but won out, with the highlight of the season being a major upset win over Bear Bryant and the Kentucky Wildcats to prove that Neyland owned Bryant.

Through it all, Stroud was a key offensive linemen for UT and one of the most physical guys on the team. His play allowed him to be taken in the 1951 NFL Draft. But he fell to the fifth round and was picked up by the New York Giants.

However, Stroud enjoyed a 12-year career in New York and was a key part of their NFL Championship in 1956. He, like Gordy, made three Pro Bowl appearances. In fact, both had very similar careers, making three pro bowls and winning an NFL championships. Stroud is only slightly higher because he played one more year, but it’s almost a wash between the two.