Tennessee football’s 10 toughest records to break

2. Andy Spiva: 547 career tackles

1973-1976

Again, this is the nature of the times. Tennessee football was playing in the era of the wishbone and the veer. Teams loved to run the option, and that made for linebackers to load up on tackles during this time. Andy Spiva was a part of that, and he was one of the most recognizable players on Rocky Top amidst a downward slide in the program under Bill Battle.

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If you want to know how dominant Spiva’s 547 career tackles is, look at who is second to him in UT’s history. AJ Johnson earns that role, and he only has 425 tackles. Yes, he’s over 100 tackles behind Spiva. In three seasons, Spiva had 194, 165 and 163 tackles. That’s an insane level of production. But this isn’t just a school record that appears unbeatable.

Spiva’s record is an SEC record. Freddie Smith of the Auburn Tigers and Jeff Herrod of the Ole Miss Rebels are both tied for second with 528 each, and Jim Kovach of the Kentucky Wildcats is fourth with 521. What do all of these players have in common? None of them played after 1987, and three of them played before the 1980s.

Simply put, everybody in the 500-tackle club played before Steve Spurrier arrived in the SEC and opened up the passing attack. Now, with numerous open passing attacks and the nickel the base defense for many teams, it’s hard to see linebackers ever getting close to that mark again.