Tennessee football: Top 10 passing leaders in Vols history

Tennessee quarterback and "maestro" Peyton Manning leads the Vols' Pride of the Southland Band in a rendition of "Rocky Top" after the No. 3 ranked Volunteers closed out Vanderbilt 17-10 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville Nov. 29, 1997. Tennessee earned its first ever trip to the SEC Championship game to faced Auburn. /

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Tennessee quarterback Andy Kelly (8) fires one of his 26 second half passes against Virginia during the Sugar Bowl at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans Jan. 1, 1991. After falling behind 16-0 in the first half, Kelly had 19 completions to lead the Vols to a come-from-behind 23-22 victory. /

Tennessee football career passing leader No. 6: Andy Kelly (1988-91)

6,397 passing yards
36 passing touchdowns
60.8% completion
7.6 yards per attempt

Johnny Major’s final seasons came with Andy Kelly as his starting quarterback and Kelly delivered for Majors. The quarterback led Tennessee to three straight New Year’s Day bowl games, winning the 1990 Cotton Bowl and the 1991 Sugar Bowl, and losing the 1992 Fiesta Bowl, the final bowl game of Majors’ career.

Kelly only threw for 1,299 yards in his sophomore season and still led Tennessee to an 11-1 record, but he stepped up his game in the next two years.

Kelly threw for 2,241 yards in 1990 and 2,759 yards in 1991. In each of those seasons, he had as many interceptions as touchdowns with 14 of each in ’90 and 15 apiece in ’91. That is the price to pay for leading the SEC in pass attempts in ’91. He was third in attempts in ’90.

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