Number of NFL Draft picks: 4
- Round 5: Walt Slater – Philadelphia Eagles (Pick 37)
- Round 7: Pat Lenshan – Chicago Cardinals (Pick 71)
- Round 26: Jim Vugrin – Chicago Cardinals (Pick 241)
- Round 28: Bob Long – Philadelphia Eagles (Pick 268)
Between Robert Neyland’s second and third stints, John Barnhill guided Tennessee football, and he saw much greater success than W.H. Britton. This was through the difficult World War II years, including the cancelation of the 1943 season, but the Vols still went 32-5-2 under Barnhill with four top 20 finishes, a top 10 finish, a Sugar Bowl win and a Rose Bowl appearance.
In his final season on Rocky Top before Neyland returned, 1945, he led UT to a No. 14 final ranking. This success didn’t manifest itself with a lot of highly touted NFL talent, but it did manifest itself in numerous NFL prospects who weren’t highly touted.
Four draft picks would seem to be enough to go higher, but none being earlier than the fifth round hurt Barnhill. Tailback Walt Slater, the highest pick, is also the most notable one. He played 11 games and had eight starts in 1947 with the Pittsburgh Steelers after never playing with Philly.
Halfback Bob Long played two games with the now-defunct Boston Yanks in 1947, also having never played in Philly. End Pat Lenshan and guard Jim Vugrin never logged any NFL time. Simply put, the pro production wasn’t great, but the low drafting is why this ranking is down here.