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Top 10 NFL careers of Tennessee football LBs

By Caleb Calhoun

31 Oct 1999: Al Wilson #56 of the Denver Broncos celebrates on the field during the game against the Minnesota Vikings at the Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colorado. The Vikings defeated the Broncos 23-20. Mandatory Credit: Brian Bahr /Allsport
31 Oct 1999: Al Wilson #56 of the Denver Broncos celebrates on the field during the game against the Minnesota Vikings at the Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colorado. The Vikings defeated the Broncos 23-20. Mandatory Credit: Brian Bahr /Allsport /
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Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images
Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images /

Here are the best pro Tennessee football Volunteers linebackers.

Note: This is part of a series of posts looking back on Tennessee football players who had the best NFL careers at each position.

When Doug Dickey took over as Tennessee football head coach in the mid-1960s, he helped begin the process of bringing the Vols into the modern era. While part of that was transitioning to the T-formation on offense, the other part was shifting the focus on defense.

That focus was on elite linebackers. Ever since then, throughout different systems, the Vols have produced elite linebackers that became NFL stars, a tradition that carried into the 2000s. John Chavis took it to another level with his focus on speed while coaching under Phillip Fulmer.

As a result, Tennessee football has a slew of guys who became star linebackers in the pros. Whether they were in the 3-4, the 4-3, the 3-3-5, the 4-2-5 or the 5-2, and yes, all those systems have been run in Knoxville, they managed to draw attention from NFL scouts.

In this post, we’re going to rank the greatest linebackers in NFL history who played for the Vols. To qualify for this list, a player has to have played linebacker specifically in the NFL. As a result, guys like Leonard Little, who played linebacker throughout most of his college years but defensive end in the pros, obviously won’t count.

Even without a superstar like Little, though, the Vols have had some legends  in the pros. Even as recently as the 2010s, players from UT were all-pro guys. Obviously, Jeremy Pruitt is trying to get the Vols back that tradition of producing elite linebackers at the next level. This list will prove just how great of a run the Vols had there from Dickey to Fulmer.

Of course, one player who should be on this list is Jackie Walker. He never had an NFL career, despite being a two-time All-American, due to the fact that he was openly gay back in the early 1970s. The late Walker, who died in the early 2000s, was blackballed, but he deserves to be mentioned here because he had the talent to be an NFL star.

Walker played for the Vols in the Dickey-Bill Battle era, winning an SEC title in 1969 and going 11-1 and winning the Sugar Bowl in 1970. He played alongside Fulmer. Anyway, with him getting his deserved shoutout, let’s go ahead and look at the guys who did play at the next level. These are Tennessee football’s 10 linebackers who had the greatest NFL careers.

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