Best Tennessee Linebackers

#26
#26
I know I just posted about Al Wilson. But! I will say when you see players that have 'it' like singers and other people that have the 'it' factor; he defined 'it' for that position at Tennessee. I wish I could've watched him in his prime, but I couldn't.

We've had a few people with 'it'. Just to name a few: Berry, manning, Stephens, and many others. I believe CBJ sees the 'it' in people, or hell I hope so. It's gonna take a lot of players with that element of 'it' to bring us back quickly. For instance, I believe Cam has 'it' he wasn't the most highly recruited player;however, he is electric in his position.

Like many of you, I hope we see a team that has a collective 'it' factor this year. We deserve to be respected, and we deserve the best to honor the orange and white.

Just my two cents, I'll hang up and listen.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#28
#28
Still have some
post_thanks.gif
to burn keep 'em coming folks! Shake 'em on down!:good!:
 
#36
#36
1985: tackles (solo) Kelly Ziegler 101 (83 solo), Darrin Miller 94 (67)

'85 Vols and '88 Vols R O C K
 
#43
#43
From the Bleacher Report when listing their version of the Vol Dream Team:

Andy Spiva:
Primarily a middle linebacker while at Tennessee, we'll move Andy Spiva to Al Wilson's side to make sure we include him on this list. He is overlooked far too often.

Spiva owns virtually every tackles record at Tennessee more than 30 years after he set them. He has the most career hits (547), tackles (354), assisted tackles (193) and forced fumbles (14) in school history. He also has the most hits (194), tackles (134) and forced fumbles (7) in a single season in school history.

Spiva's stellar 1976 season is probably the best ever by a Volunteer linebacker.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 5 people
#46
#46
volfaninutah said:
Probably the best tandem on the field together was Reynolds and Kiner. Wow what a pair they were.
Click to expand...


Correct. And they were both All-Americans in 1969. As much as we justifiably revere Al Wilson's leadership and inspired play, I still consider Kiner to be the best Tennessee linebacker I have seen in 47 years of fandom. As difficult as it may be for younger fans to believe, Steve's performance in the '69 Alabama game surpassed Al Wilson's sterling performance in the 1998 Florida game. Kiner was a one-man wrecking crew in that victory over 'bama; he amassed "five sacks, 11 tackles with five assists, four quarterback hurries, an interception and a forced fumble." See UTSPORTS.COM - University of Tennessee Athletics - Football.

Indeed, my single favorite memory of The Third Saturday in October would have to be the 1969 game. It wasn't a play per se, but this event was illustrative of just how thoroughly we dominated the Tide in that game, one in which we led 34-0 before 'bama added a couple of late touchdowns for cosmetic effect:

"Tennessee linebacker Steve Kiner chastised Alabama players for not playing better for Bear Bryant in the 1969 game at Legion Field. Former Tennessee assistant coach Bob Davis was there on the sidelines when it happened. Tennessee was ahead 34-0, and coach Doug Dickey was getting his first-line defenders out of the game. 'They had a play that ended right in front of us,' Davis said. Before he came to the bench, Kiner screamed at the Alabama players. He pointed to Coach Bryant and said, 'Look over there at that poor old man. He looks pitiful. Can you see him? You've let him down. You should be ashamed of yourselves'" (Tom Mattingly: SEC talk not for the faint of heart » GoVolsXtra).

Other accounts also allege that Kiner added, as a final stinging remark, "There was a time when those crimson jerseys meant something."

I met Coach Fulmer once and mentioned this incident since he was on the team at that time. He said, "The strange thing is that Steve really did say that!" According to this 1971 article, Kiner said something else to Bryant after the game that really struck a nerve:

"In 1969 even Vanderbilt beat Alabama. And there was the time that same year when, after Tennessee had humbled the Tide 41-14, Tennessee Linebacker Steve Kiner came up to Bryant and said, 'Gee, Coach, they don't seem to have the same pride in wearing that red jersey anymore.' Bryant [would] never forget Kiner's words." See PRIDE IN THE RED JERSEY - SI.com.

Apparently, there was a great mutual respect between Kiner and Bryant, who described our first two-time All-American linebacker as "the best linebacker in the SEC since Lee Roy Jordan." See Archives for July 2012 | The Vol Historian | GoVolsXtra.com.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 5 people
#47
#47
allvol9 said:
From the Bleacher Report when listing their version of the Vol Dream Team:

Andy Spiva:
Primarily a middle linebacker while at Tennessee, we'll move Andy Spiva to Al Wilson's side to make sure we include him on this list. He is overlooked far too often.

Spiva owns virtually every tackles record at Tennessee more than 30 years after he set them. He has the most career hits (547), tackles (354), assisted tackles (193) and forced fumbles (14) in school history. He also has the most hits (194), tackles (134) and forced fumbles (7) in a single season in school history.

Spiva's stellar 1976 season is probably the best ever by a Volunteer linebacker.
Click to expand...


Amazingly, Spiva was not selected as an All-American. He was an outstanding linebacker who literally had to shoulder too much of the defensive load on a team whose talent pool was dwindling due to poor recruiting during the late Battle years.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#48
#48
I'm not that old so some of you older guys will probably disagree with this, with that said, my dream team from 98 to now for defense would be:

SDE: Shaun Ellis
DT: Henderson
NT: Haynesworth
WDE: L. Little
WLB: Mayo
MLB: Al Wilson
SLB: Raynoch Thompson
CB: Goodrich
CB: Jason Allen before his injury
SS: Grant
FS: Berry

Our LB play would be unstoppable. It's sad to see just how far we have fallen off the map when you make a dream team starting at 98' and realize that most the players played within 4 years of 98'. We simply haven't produced lots of talent since 2003 really.
 
#49
#49
keckjm said:
I'm not that old so some of you older guys will probably disagree with this, with that said, my dream team from 98 to now for defense would be:

SDE: Shaun Ellis
DT: Henderson
NT: Haynesworth
WDE: L. Little
WLB: Mayo
MLB: Al Wilson
SLB: Raynoch Thompson
CB: Goodrich
CB: Jason Allen before his injury
SS: Grant
FS: Berry

Our LB play would be unstoppable. It's sad to see just how far we have fallen off the map when you make a dream team starting at 98' and realize that most the players played within 4 years of 98'. We simply haven't produced lots of talent since 2003 really.
Click to expand...

Inky over Goodrich, Cedric Wilson too.
 
#50
#50
ManningBerry#1 said:
Absolutely! I wish we had him on campus more than anybody. The fire and passion he had for the game would be contagious!

The way that he hit people would be illegal today.
Click to expand...

Have you watched the film of Cecil Cherry? Take a look and tell me he doesn't look like 27? Better players are coming and volnation will soon get to see big time athletes again.
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top