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Tennessee football’s top five place kickers in history

By Caleb Calhoun

10 OCT 1992: TENNESSEE KICKER JOHN BECKSVOORT CELEBRATES AFTER KICKING A FIELD GOAL DURING THE VOLUNTEERS 25-24 LOSS TO THE ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE AT NEYLAND STADIUM IN KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Murphy-Racey/ALLSPORT
10 OCT 1992: TENNESSEE KICKER JOHN BECKSVOORT CELEBRATES AFTER KICKING A FIELD GOAL DURING THE VOLUNTEERS 25-24 LOSS TO THE ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE AT NEYLAND STADIUM IN KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Murphy-Racey/ALLSPORT /
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Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images
Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images /

Special teams has historically been a crucial part of Tennessee football. These are the Volunteers’ five best place kickers in school history.

Some of the greatest success Tennessee football has seen throughout its past has been due to elite production from place kickers. Gen. Robert Neyland’s sixth game maxim makes it clear: Press the kicking game for here’s where the breaks are made.

The Vols have won crucial games and even championships in the past specifically due to the elite performance of place kickers. They have also seen themselves come up in short in plenty of crucial games due to the same issues.

If not for problems specifically in the kicking game, Tennessee football would have gone 11-1-1 in 1990 and likely would have won a national championship. Meanwhile, they would have gone 9-3 in 1998 if not for a reliable advantage in the kicking game.

So for once, let’s let the kickers get their shine. In this post, we’re going to rank the greatest place kickers in UT history. To be clear, this does not include punters. We are only ranking people based on how good they were at kicking field goals.

Our criteria won’t just take into account their accuracy and reliability. We will also factor in clutch performances and how good they were on harder field goals. Making field goals when they count obviously matters a lot more.

It’s also worth noting that some players have skewed their really high career percentages because of one great year. That includes guys like Alex Walls and Daniel Lincoln. We’re going to say here that one such year is not enough to make the list. Our ranking takes an entire career into account.

How far back does UT’s tradition on field goals go? Which players in the past gave them the biggest advantage? Let’s go ahead and break all of that down here. These are Tennessee football’s five greatest place kickers in school history.

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