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Tennessee football: Ranking Vols 5 previous seasons after no NFL Draft picks

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 5: The Tennessee Volunteers mascot Smokey runs through the end zone after a score against the Georgia Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on October 5, 2013 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 5: The Tennessee Volunteers mascot Smokey runs through the end zone after a score against the Georgia Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on October 5, 2013 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Mike Carlson/Getty Images
Photo by Mike Carlson/Getty Images /

3. 2015: 9-4 (5-3)

2nd in SEC East; W Outback Bowl (45-6 vs. Northwestern)

Final ranking: No. 22 (AP); No. 23 (Coaches)

The year before Tennessee football’s 9-4 letdown season, the Vols had a 9-4 season that signaled a program on the rise. Butch Jones’s program entered 2015 with less hype than 2016 but still more excitement than previous years.

But the 2015 NFL Draft was ugly for the Vols at the time. It was the first draft since that 1963 draft in which no UT player was taken. Morale was high, though, because people blamed Derek Dooley and the transition for that at the time.

Meanwhile, Jones was coming off a 7-6 season his second year and had just secured a second straight Top 5 recruiting class. So to the untrained eye, he had stocked the roster with young talent to build for the future. And this would be the first year the Vols return back to the Top 25.

A 2-3 start with late-game collapses to the Oklahoma Sooners and Florida Gators, though, gave Jones his first bit of hot-seat feel. But then his team had a major comeback to beat the Georgia Bulldogs, fought the eventual national champion Alabama Crimson Tide to the final few minutes, and then ran the table to win out.

As a result, following no players drafted for the first time in over 50 years, this team had its first season of more than seven wins and its first Top 25 finish in eight years at the time. Another year of no draft picks would follow, but nobody knew anything yet. At the time, fans were thrilled about the rising program under Jones.

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