Ranking all Tennesse football QBs to start for Johnny Majors

Daryl Dickey’s story came true because Tony Robinson was the quarterback who got hurt. However, before he got hurt, Robinson had already done his part to re-establish Tennessee football on the national stage. Arriving in 1982, Robinson became the starter in 1984 to replace Alan Cockrell, who left to play baseball.

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That year, Robinson led UT to a 7-4-1 record and became the first quarterback to earn All-SEC honors under Majors. In 1985, he started the first five games, four of which were against ranked teams, spotting them a 26-10 lead over the No. 10 ranked UCLA Bruins to make up for a defensive and special teams collapse that made it a 26-26 tie.

A week later, Robinson had his greatest performance, leading the Vols to a dominant 38-20 win over the No. 1 ranked Auburn Tigers, throwing for 259 yards and four touchdowns. That was the game that got UT back into the top 25 for the first time since 1979.

In a shootout, Robinson then carried the Vols the next week to a 31-29 win over the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, and after losing at the No. 7 ranked Florida Gators, he was the one who spotted the Vols the points in their win at the No. 15 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide. So he did the bulk of the work before his season-ending injury in that game.

Robinson finished his career completing 61.6 percent of his passes for 3,332 yards, 23 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. On the ground, he had 187 yards and four touchdowns. While Dickey deserves credit for finishing 1985, Robinson’s work in the first part of that season and in 1984 puts him higher on the list.