Top 10 single seasons by Tennessee football players of all time

Maxwell Award; O’Brien Award; SEC Player of the Year; All-American; All-SEC

Was there ever any debate? Statistically, nobody comes close to doing what Peyton Manning did for Tennessee football in 1997. It all started with his decision to return for his senior season when he would have been a No. 1 draft pick.

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Had Manning not returned, he may not even have gone down as a top 20 player in UT history. But in 1997, he rewrote the SEC record books. Manning completed 60 percent of his passes for 3,819 yards and 36 touchdowns. He also ran for three touchdowns to set a school record for 39 total touchdowns on the year, one that Joshua Dobbs just tied.

The other school record, though, in passing yards, still stands, and at the time it was also an SEC record. No quarterback has come within 200 passing yards of that mark in UT history, and it put Manning firmly on the list among greatest players in school history and greatest college football quarterbacks of all time.

Oh, and Manning also helped his team have success on the field. His play led them to an 11-2 record and their first SEC Championship since 1990, as they scored impressive wins at the UCLA Bruins, at home over the Georgia Bulldogs and against the Auburn Tigers. Manning was simply the best this year.

Everything ended with another Heisman robbery, as the voters changed their standards in this season alone to give it Charles Woodson. But that doesn’t change the fact that Manning had the greatest single season in Tennessee football history in 1997, one that still hasn’t been matched.