Tennessee football: Top 10 passing leaders in Vols history
By Josh Yourish
Tennessee football career passing leader No. 1: Peyton Manning (1994-97)
- 11,201 passing yards
- 89 passing touchdowns
- 62.5% completion
- 8.1 yards per attempt
Like I said, it’s no surprise who is No. 1 on this list. Fulmer was willing to hand over the keys of his offense to a freshman and that was the case with Manning. He threw for 1,141 yards and 11 touchdowns in his 1994 freshman campaign.
The Vols finished 8-4 that season, the only year under 10 wins with Manning under center. The next year they went 11-1 and finished third in the country. Manning finished sixth in Heisman voting with 2,954 passing yards on a 64.2% completion rate with 22 touchdowns and four picks.
He just kept getting better with 3,287 yards and 20 touchdowns to 12 picks in ’96, and 3,819 yards and 36 touchdowns to 11 picks in ’97. He finished eighth and second in Heisman voting respectively.
In 1997, Manning was named a consensus All-American, the Davey O’Brien Award winner, the Johhny Unitas Golden Arm Award winner, the Maxwell Award winner, and the SEC Player of the Year.
Manning was the first overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft and went on to have a hall-of-fame career which included two Super Bowls and five NFL MVPs to make up for the lack of a Heisman trophy.
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