Tennessee football’s top 10 NFL single seasons of 2010s

Rushing yards leader; First-Team All-Pro

This is one overachieving story nobody saw coming. Arian Foster had a horrible senior season with Tennessee football, largely due to Dave Clawson’s offense not being a fit, which was a big reason for Phillip Fulmer getting fired. Then, in a meaningless Senior Bowl game, he got hurt, which is why he went undrafted.

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After signing with the Houston Texans, though, he showed promise late in 2009. In 2010, Foster burst onto the scene. He made the most of his first opportunity in the Texans’ opener against the Indianapolis Colts, rushing for 231 yards and three touchdowns in an upset win over a team that had just made the Super Bowl the year before.

Foster’s play never let up the rest of the way, and he finished the year with a league-leading 1,616 yards and 16 touchdowns on 327 carries, averaging nearly five yards a carry. He also had 66 receptions for 604 yards and another two touchdowns, leading the league in yards and touchdowns from scrimmage with 2,220 and 18 respectively.

From there, Foster continued a period of dominance in the early 2010s that very few UT running backs have been able to accomplish. As for 2010 itself, that was clearly a great year for former Vols, as Foster joins Jason Witten and Jerod Mayo to have that season make this list. We should not that Peyton Manning was also playing that year.