For Tennessee fans who are too young to understand the historical significance of his career, Dewey Warren. Together, Doug Dickey and Dewey Warren ushered in the modern era of Tennessee football. Prior to 1965, the first year in which Warren played, no Tennessee player completed more than 36 passes or passed for more than 552 yards in a single season; both of those records were established by Johnny Majors in 1956 and were sufficient to rank him 2nd in the SEC that year in both categories.
Dewey Warren replaced the injured Charlie Fulton at quarterback in the Ole Miss game and finished the year. In less than four full games, he completed 44 of 79 passes for 588 yards, all of which established new single-season, individual passing records. Almost half of that yardage came in his season-ending performance against UCLA, a game in which Warren completed 19 of 27 passes for 274 yards. Given the infrequency with which the forward pass had been utilized previously in the single-wing offense, this may well have been the first time that a Tennessee quarterback produced the kind of passing statistics associated with the modern era of college football.
Warrens late-season aerial show would only whet the appetites of Vol fans for the 1966 season, a year in which he shattered all existing school passing records by completing 136 of 229 passes for 1716 yards and 18 touchdowns. Dewey Warren finished the 1966 season as the first and, thus far, only Tennessee quarterback to lead the nation in passing efficiency. For Tennessee fans who, for decades, had been accustomed to the infantry-based assault force of the single-wing, the suddenness with which Tennessee implemented its aerial attack must have felt like a clap of thunder and bolt of lightning from out of the proverbial blue.