Number of NFL Draft picks: 5
- Round 3: Darris McCord – Detroit Lions (Pick 36)
- Round 18: Pat Oleksiak – Detroit Lions (Pick 216)
- Round 20: Jimmy Wade – Philadelphia Eagles (Pick 238)
- Round 27: Joel Kinley – Chicago Bears (Pick 323)
- Round 30: Lamar Leachman – Cleveland Browns (Pick 360)
Robert Neyland turned the Tennessee football program over to his assistant, Harvey Robinson, after his final retirement at the end of the 1952 season. Robinson was fired two years later thanks to a .500 two-year record. When you look at the NFL talent he produced thanks to what Neyland left him, it’s easy to see why Neyland had to fire him.
This class was loaded. Five draft picks is impressive enough, and defensive end Darris McCord going in the third round pushes it above those other thin class that still had first-rounders. He was a legitimate pick.
To be fair, though, McCord was the only player who actually saw pro success in this group, and he had a lot of it. In 13 years with Detroit, McCord appeared in 168 games and started in 165 of them, earning a Pro Bowl and won an NFL Championship in 1957. Backs Pat Oleksiak and Jimmy Wade and offensive linemen Joel Kinley and Lamar Leachman never logged any NFL stats.
Interestingly, tackle Ed Nickla was drafted in the 14th round of this draft with the 167th pick by the Chicago Bears, and he did play 12 games with one start in 1959. Nickla played for UT in 1951 and 1952, then went to the Air Force from 1953 to 1956 before playing for the Maryland Terrapins in 1957 and 1958. He could count, but it wouldn’t boost this ranking at all.