Watch: Peyton Manning congratulates Tennessee baseball in “Omaha!” video

When you speak of connections to the Tennessee Vols, competing for championships and Omaha, Peyton Manning would have easily come up in your mind before anything else until about a month ago. Now, though, with Tennessee baseball headed to Omaha, Neb. for the College World Series, there’s another connection.

Manning congratulated Tony Vitello and the Vols program for reaching the CWS after beating the LSU Tigers in two games this past weekend during the NCAA Super Regionals. The Tennessee football legend was known for the phrase “Omaha!” when calling audibles during his four years with the Denver Broncos.

To play off of that connection, Peyton Manning’s congratulatory video involved him shouting out the phrase while speaking to Vitello. The Tennessee baseball program released the video Tuesday evening on Twitter.

Although he was already an NFL star the last two times Tennessee baseball reached the CWS, back in 2005 and 2001, Manning was with the Indianapolis Colts, and “Omaha!” wasn’t a thing yet. He also hadn’t yet won a Super Bowl championship, if that means anything.

Of course, there’s another connection Manning has with this storyline. One of the five times UT reached the College World Series in its program’s history was 1995. Todd Helton was the star of the team that year, and he was ahead of Manning, then a freshman, at quarterback on the 1994 football team’s depth chart for the first four games.

Helton eventually became a superstar in the MLB just as Manning became a superstar in the NFL, and for an even bigger connection, Helton spent his entire career playing in Denver, Colo. with the Colorado Rockies. Well, as we said, Manning’s “Omaha!” audible became a thing when he went to Denver back in 2012.

Obviously, there are very few people for the Tennessee Vols to better associate championship success with than Peyton Manning. He may be the greatest former Vol of all time in any sport, and while Vitello and the baseball program is having great success on its own, connecting with such a legend can’t hurt.