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Tennessee football: Vols top five seasons following draft with under three picks

By Caleb Calhoun

1 Jan 1990: Running back James Rouse of the Arkansas Razorbacks runs down the field during the Cotton Bowl against the Tennessee Volunteers in Dallas, Texas. Tennessee won the game 31-27. Mandatory Credit: Joe Patronite /Allsport
1 Jan 1990: Running back James Rouse of the Arkansas Razorbacks runs down the field during the Cotton Bowl against the Tennessee Volunteers in Dallas, Texas. Tennessee won the game 31-27. Mandatory Credit: Joe Patronite /Allsport /
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Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images
Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images /

1. 1938: 11-0 (7-0)

SEC and National Championship; W Orange Bowl; No. 1 AP

Number of NFL Draft picks: 0

One year before the 1939 team, Tennessee football’s 1938 team set the standard. It’s the year that ushered in the Golden Age of the program and defined the Robert Neyland era more than any of his other seasons on Rocky Top.

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Neyland returned for his second stint in 1936. However, a losing record by W.H. Britton in 1935 hurt recruiting a bit, so Neyland had to develop and find lots more talent. To his benefit, Bowden Wyatt would be eligible to play that year after sitting out in 1935. He then found Abe Shires and George Cafego, who would be ready to go in 1937.

After going 6-2-2 in 1936, finishing No. 17 and losing Phil Dickens to the NFL Draft in 1937, Neyland added more young talent in 1937 with guys like Ed Molinski, Bob Suffridge, Bob Foxx and Ed Cifers. While those guys sat, Cafego, Wyatt and Shires helped them go 6-3-1 in 1937.

With so much youth, nobody was taken in the 1938 NFL Draft from Rocky Top. The result was Wyatt returning as a veteran, Cafego and Shires coming back with more experience, and all the other stars being eligible to play. There was no way they would lose a game that year. Only the Auburn Tigers and LSU Tigers kept things against them within single digits.

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Tennessee football went 11-0, won its first SEC Championship, its first national championship and appeared in its first bowl game, beating the Oklahoma Sooners 17-0 in the Orange Bowl. No players taken in the 1938 draft only meant that they were returning a bunch of young, elite talent, and they would win every regular season game in 1938, 1939 and 1940 as a result.

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