Tennessee football: Former Vols Peyton Manning, Reggie White all-time All-Americans
Two former Tennessee football Volunteers, Peyton Manning and Reggie White, were the Vols legends honored by ESPN as all-time All-Americans.
This isn’t a shock to anybody. Tennessee football has produced numerous legends in NFL and college football history, and the two most recognizable ones on both fronts earned more honors on Thursday.
ESPN named Peyton Manning and Reggie White to its All-Time All-American team in honor of the 150-year anniversary of college football. The roster went two-deep at every position, and there was room for both.
Honoring these guys has become a thing in recent months. They also were named to USA TODAY’s list of top 10 players in honor of the NFL’s 100-year anniversary back in October, making Tennessee football the only school to have two players in the top 10.
White, who had 293 career tackles and 32 career sacks in college, was named as a first-team defensive end. He actually played defensive tackle for most of his time in college, but given the personnel on the teams, it made sense to line him up at end, where he spent his NFL career.
Manning, meanwhile, was named a second-team All-American behind quarterback Roger Staubach. The Heisman Trophy runner-up in 1997 went 39-6 as a starter, threw for over 11,000 yards and nearly 90 touchdowns while winning an SEC Championship in 1997.
One worthy thing to bring up is the fact that ESPN, which was blamed for Manning losing the Heisman in 1997, deserves credit for not using the stupid wins, never beat Florida or national championship argument. They solely focused on the individual performances of the athletes, and when you do that, it’s clear that Manning belongs on the list.
In fact, naming Manning and Staubach both on the list shows that ESPN was willing to go beyond the cliche argument of wins and rings when it comes to quarterbacks. Anybody who saw Manning play in college knew how elite he was.
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Of course, Tennessee football had some other legends, including Derek Barnett in recent years, who broke White’s school-record for career sacks, along with Al Wilson and Doug Atkins. But Manning and White stood out above everybody else. So they belonged here.