whos the greatest vol ever?

#1
fearlesspeerless

fearlesspeerless

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#1
i know its probably unpopular, but i say Reggie White. Peyton, Peerless, Tee and Jamal might we worthy too. But Reggie was not only a great man hes probably the greatest d-lineman ever. I think it was reggie who lead the Pack to Super Bowl XXXI not Brett favre.
 
#5
#5
fearlesspeerless said:
i know its probably unpopular, but i say Reggie White. Peyton, Peerless, Tee and Jamal might we worthy too. But Reggie was not only a great man hes probably the greatest d-lineman ever. I think it was reggie who lead the Pack to Super Bowl XXXI not Brett favre.
Click to expand...

Good man.
 
#6
#6
haha well i was workin with 3 hours of sleep and no coffee yet. but i'll still say reggie haha. and i'll take Taumaurice Nigel martin over Peyton since he beat florida and won the NC.
 
#8
#8
In no particular order:

Manning
Majors
White
Atkins
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#11
#11
In no specific order:

Doug Atkins
Peyton Manning
Johnny Majors
Al Wilson
Reggie White

And Reggie White is THE greatest D-lineman of all-time. He is arguably the best DE ever (and would still hold the NFL record for sacks by a large margin if he hadn't played in the USFL), and he frequently lined up as DT in the pro's and played that at a pro bowl level. He was the man.
 
#12
#12
Al and Reggie get the vote for players I actually watched. Older guys like Majors, Lauricella, Atkins get forgotten but were monsters in their time
 
#13
#13
Bobby Dodd, Gene McEver, Hank Lauricella, Bob Suffridge, Beattie Feathers, Herman Hickman, Nathan Dougherty, George Cafego, Doug Atkins, Johnny Majors, Bobby Majors, Steve Kiner, Reggie White, Bowden Wyatt, Tony Robinson, Carl Pickens, Al Wilson, Peyton Manning, Peerless Price... Lot of names that can be thrown out there, and I'm sure I've missed a few.

But from everything I've ever heard, Bob Suffridge was the best player at UT relative to his opponents.

Suffridge is the Vols' only three-time All-America, earning the honors from 1938-40. UT never lost a regular season game during his career, collecting a 30-0 record.

His sophomore year, the speedy Suffridge anchored a dominant line that paved the way to an 11-0 finish. The 1939 season saw Suffridge help lead Tennessee to another undefeated regular season, one in which the Vols' defense did not allow a single point. Both years Tennessee was crowned conference champs and finished as the second-ranked team in the country.

Suffridge's senior year was just as impressive. He won the Knute Rockne Memorial Trophy as the nation's most outstanding collegiate lineman and was named MVP by the Atlanta Touchdown Club. Meanwhile, his blocking and tackling helped pave the way for a third consecutive undefeated regular season and a third consecutive SEC title. Again, he was named All-America and All-SEC as the Vols earned national champion status from two polls.

The Vols lost two games in Suffridge's three years, both being postseason bowls. In honor of his achievements, Suffridge became a member of the all-time AP All-America Team, the all-time All-SEC Team (1933-82) and the Half-Century All-America Team (1950). He also is a member of the 35-Year All-SEC Team named by the Atlanta Journal, the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame and the Sugar Bowl, Rose Bowl and Orange Bowl halls of fame.
 
#16
#16
Tee Martin was great, but he also quarterbacked maybe the best CFB team of all time. Do you realize that 14 of the starters on the '98 Vols team ended up being NFL starters (at least for 1 season)?
 
#18
#18
Reggie White hurt his legacy with some of his comments at the end, as did Majors.
 
#19
#19
Some good ones about Suffridge,

"Suffridge was so quick he once blocked the same point-after- touchdown three times, twice called for off-sides when many observers felt he wasn't."

"Robert Neyland never wanted to answer when asked, ’Who were your greatest players?’ But, when pressed, he would reluctantly answer, ’I’ll start a team, but will not attempt to complete it. You’ll have to start with Bob Suffridge the greatest lineman I ever saw and that’s as far as I will go with the line. For a backfield, you’ll start with Gene McEver, the greatest I ever coached.’"
 
#20
#20
nbakerld said:
Tee Martin was great, but he also quarterbacked maybe the best CFB team of all time. Do you realize that 14 of the starters on the '98 Vols team ended up being NFL starters (at least for 1 season)?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I would put the 98 team in the top 7 CFB team all time, they certainly weren't one of the top 3, even through my orange tinted glasses.
 
#22
#22
unfportunately id have to say that the 95 Huskers, 01 Canes, 02 Canes, 04 Trojans, and 05 Horns were all at least better than the 98 Vols, again this is also through my orange tinted glasses
 
#25
#25
"I'm not sure I would put the 98 team in the top 7 CFB team all time, they certainly weren't one of the top 3, even through my orange tinted glasses."
____________

They are #1 to me (with orange tinted glasses):

- Beat 6 ranked teams, 4 who finished in the top 10, going 13-0

- the '98 team is ranked #2 all-time by computers ('71 Nebraska is #1)

- They had 14 starters start in the pro's

- They had like 27 players on the roster drafted, I think 30 total made NFL rosters

- 6 players ended up being pro-bowlers

- They held SEC opponents to like 9 points per game

Now you can argue that maybe some teams have had a better resume, and maybe some teams have had more talent, but I don't think anybody has a better combination of the two.
 
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