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Tennessee football: Ranking all 15 first NFL Draft classes of Vols head coaches

By Caleb Calhoun

Tennessee Head Coach Josh Heupel congratulates wide receiver Velus Jones Jr. (1) during senior day ceremonies before the start of the NCAA college football game between the Tennesse Volunteers and Vanderbilt Commodores in Knoxville, Tenn. on Saturday, November 27, 2021.Kns Tennessee Vanderbilt Football
Tennessee Head Coach Josh Heupel congratulates wide receiver Velus Jones Jr. (1) during senior day ceremonies before the start of the NCAA college football game between the Tennesse Volunteers and Vanderbilt Commodores in Knoxville, Tenn. on Saturday, November 27, 2021.Kns Tennessee Vanderbilt Football /
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Nov 13, 2021; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Power T on the field before a game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Georgia Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bryan Lynn-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 13, 2021; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Power T on the field before a game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Georgia Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bryan Lynn-USA TODAY Sports /

Record in 1963: 5-5 (3-5). Jim McDonald. player. 839. Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. Class: 1964. 6

Number of NFL Draft picks: 3

  • Round 1: Dick Evey – Chicago Bears (Pick 14)
  • Round 12: Bob Zvolerin – Washington Football Team (Pick 158)
  • Round 14: Ed Beard – San Francisco 49ers (Pick 183)

*Two AFL Draft picks

  • Round 2: Dick Evey – Buffalo Bills (Pick 12)
  • Round 20: Ed Beard – Oakland Raiders (Pick 159)

Just after the end of the Bowden Wyatt era and just before the beginning of the Doug Dickey era, this was a period that marked the peak of transition not for Tennessee football but football as a whole. As you can see, it was the time in which the AFL was rivaling the NFL, and the Vols benefitted from that.

Jim McDonald’s first draft class is similar to Butch Jones’ in that it has three picks with a high first-rounder and two late-rounders. However, the pick number of each of them in the NFL Draft propels McDonald’s class over Jones’ class. Even if you averaged in the AFL Draft picks, two of whom were NFL picks, the picks were cumulatively higher.

Despite that odd transition where UT was outdated with the single wing, players on defense and in the trenches found their ways to the pros from McDonald’s first and only class. Both Dick Evey and Ed Beard chose to stay with the NFL teams that picked them, and they also each lasted until 1971.  Beard spent all seven years in San Francisco as a middle linebacker.

Evey spent five years in Chicago as a defensive lineman, another with the Los Angeles Rams and one more with the Detroit Lions. Bob Zvolerin never played in the pros, but again, that’s irrelevant here. Overall, McDonald had a decent only class as an era drew to a close.

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