Tennessee football: Top 10 Vols who played for Johnny Majors

Similar to the way Andy Kelly made the list by setting the standard for quarterbacks as a career player under Johnny Majors, Johnnie Jones did that as a running back. Sure, there were other elite backs like Reggie Cobb, Chuck Webb and Tony Thompson, and Cobb and Webb were probably better. However, Jones was the four-year starter who helped to build up Tennessee football.

Now, before we go any further, we have to be fair to Webb and say he probably would have made the list if not for a career-ending injury. But sadly there was nothing we could do about that. He just deserved a shoutout on here. Anyway, back in the early 1980s, Jones was the guy who carried the Vol offense under Majors.

Joining an elite group of talented players in 1981, Jones saw limited action as a freshman. He became a co-starter in 1982, rushing for 421 yards and four touchdowns on 93 carries. However, he exploded as a junior and senior. Those two seasons, he rushed for 1,116 and 1,290 yards respectively with 15 total touchdowns, averaging over five and a half yards a carry each year.

By the end of his career, he was UT’s all-time leading rusher at the time with 2,852 career yards and 20 career total touchdowns while averaging five and a half yards per carry. He also was central to the Vols ending their 11-game losing streak to the Alabama Crimson Tide in 1982, and they never lost to Alabama with him as the starter. That counts for something.