Was 1999 Tennessee’s most talented team?

It’s nearly impossible (but fun) to legitimately compare teams across different seasons. That is, unless the one making the comparison played on both of the teams being compared.

Former Vol Fred White, who played at Tennessee under coach Phillip Fulmer from 1996-1999, said Monday on Big Orange Hotline that the 1999 team was more talented than Tennessee’s 1998 national championship squad.

’99 without a doubt, hands down. The most talent we ever had, hands down. We just didn’t have the leadership. After winning that national championship… (it’s hard). You know how good you are, you see the trophy and you get the championship rings. You go out and you work hard, but I think we went back to the way we worked out in 97 as opposed to the way we worked out going into 98. I think a lot of guys read press clippings—and that was one of our mottos also—we didn’t want any superstars on the team in 1998. You always give credit to the team and you never take praise for yourself. In ’99 that changed a little bit and I think that was some of the things that… we were too young to understand what we were doing wrong. It’s kinda hard to tell you you’re doing something wrong but ‘I’m ranked a top 3 corner’ or ‘I’m ranked a top five safety’.

Maybe all the talk about work ethic, team, leadership and ‘ONE’ isn’t just coach speak after all.

White, having played in the secondary during his career at Tennessee, also gave his take on one of the Vols’ rising stars: sophomore cornerback Cam Sutton.

I’m proud of that young man. He’s from my area down in Georgia; He’s from Jonesboro and I’m from Griffin. Our counties border each other. He is an amazing foorball player. He’s phenomenal. I think he’s going to be a guy who can play on Sunday’s at some point. He’s probably our best asset as a corner because he can play man-to-man. He can actually cut off one side of the field for us and kinda help us push the other guys to the other side of the field. I think what he’s doing for us right now is amazing. He’s still learning. He’s still a young guy and he can still get better, but he puts in work in the film room and Terry Fair talks about him alot. And I know if Terry’s talking about him a lot that means he’s having conversations with him and trying to make sure he’s getting to that point. I think he’s going to be one of those guys that we have to lean on all season, and he’s doing a phenomenal job right now.