Lots of Tennessee football fans’ eyebrows went up Monday night. As Peyton and Eli Manning were doing their typical Manningcast for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New Orleans Saints matchup, Peyton told a story with Randy Moss on that was the ultimate what could have been.
In 1995, Phillip Fulmer and the Vols were recruiting Moss. On his visit to Rocky Top, Manning, whjo was entering his sophomore campaign, was supposed to host Moss. However, he was late driving back from Virginia, so he wasn’t able to lure Moss to Rocky Top.
Manning’s then-girlfriend and current wife, Ashley Manning, was a student at the University of Virginia at the time. As a result, Tennessee football missed out on a Manning to Moss duo in college because of Manning’s romantic life.
Imagine what that would have looked like. Joey Kent remains the all-time career leader on Rocky Top in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. Marcus Nash set the record for yards and touchdowns in 1997 with Manning throwing him the ball. Both have since been broken.
Neither of those receivers made the pros, though. If Manning could have had Moss, the Vols’ passing game would have been unstoppable. Add in Jamal Lewis in the backfield in 1997, and UT would have had the greatest three-headed monster of all time on offense.
Of course, there is a caveat. Moss noted his dream was to play for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and he was involved in an incident, which required him to play for the Marshall Thundering Herd. However, there’s a chance the Vols wouldn’t have been as serious about the incident as Notre Dame was.
Taking that into account, had Manning been able to lure Moss to Rocky Top, they may have actually had a chance to shine. That would have been an epic duo in 1995, 1996 and 1997, and there probably would have been that ever-elusive national championship.
In the 1997 Heisman Trophy voting, Manning finished second to Charles Woodson of the Michigan Wolverines. Moss finished fourth despite coming out of Marshall. Manning set every record already in 1997. It would have gone to another level if Tennessee football had Moss.