Tennessee football is hundreds of victories, the giant stadium, passionate fans, sensational statistics, unforgettable plays, unbelievable stories--Jack Reynolds hacksawing his Jeep in half, Richmond Flowers racing a quarter-horse, Peyton Manning dropping his drawers. Tennessee football is the checkerboard end zone and the Pride of the Southland band and nicknames like Bad News and Wild Bull and Swamp Rat. It is that 1928 con job and the stunning triumph over Alabama. It is the series of miracles that produced the national championship of 1998. Tennessee football is long runs and long passes and long punts and 161 extra points in a row. It is a million memories of pancake blocks, knockout tackles, impossible interceptions, missed calls and fumbles lost and found. Tennessee football is fantastic comebacks and horrendous upsets and the wonderful, awful difference in winning and losing. What is Tennessee football? It's really the men who put on the pads, pull on the jersey and fasten the chin strap. Their names are carved in marble on the Tennessee wall of fame. The are unforgettable. A chosen few are bigger than life. They are the legends. It's easier to be a Tennessee legend if you could get your hands on the football--Johnny Majors, Hank Lauricella, Willie Gault. If you didn't run with it or throw it or catch it, next best thing was to chase it--Doug Atkins, Steve Kiner, Reggie White. The deck is stacked against offensive linemen. To qualify, they must be extra legendary. Generally speaking, legends, like good wine and cheese, need a little age. It is often said that the best football players get better and better at Tennessee, beginning about 10 years after eligibility expires. Thatsaid, three are in this book as young legends, so ordained without benefit of gray beards or rocking chairs. There hasn't been and may never be a more memorable quarterback than Peyton Manning. Al Wilson was the heart and soul of the national championship team of 1998. John Henderson was America's best defensive lineman in 2000. Three cheers for the legendary Volunteers, hip, hip, hooray...

Authors Harris and Manning span the decades that weave together the story of University of Tennessee Vol history and tradition.

You step out onto the field. The crowd roars and shouts your name. You're about to play your first game at Neyland Stadium. Are you Tennessee's biggest fan? Then this story is for you!

“The best book on college football I’ve read in a generation….If you love college football, you’ll love this book.” — Jeff Pearlman, New York Times bestselling author of Boys Will Be Boys and The Bad Guys Won! Part Season on the Brink, part Fever Pitch, On Rocky Top is a rollicking, all-access pass to the rough-and-tumble world of University of Tennessee football. The book chronicles the 2008 season, during which the team suffered its second worst record ever and Head Coach Phil Fulmer, the most beloved and recognized man in Tennessee, was fired. Author of Dixieland Delight, Clay Travis offers a fascinating inside look at the inner workings of a major college sports program, and chronicles a season of promise that went terribly wrong, ending a long, fabled era.

From the sports pages of Tennessee's No. 1 newspaper, The Commercial Appeal, are those unforgettable football wars that our generation and those of our fathers and grandfathers grew up watching with amazement and often recalled at the dinner table, along with those incredible ballplayers whose legendary exploits in those memorable games Vols fans cherish most. Includes features on Johnny Majors, Reggie White, Heath Shuler, Peyton Manning, and others.

The band blares “Rocky Top” and the crowd roars as the University of Tennessee football team storms out of the tunnel and onto the field through the giant “T,” their beloved mascot Smokey leading the way. The iconic Bluetick Coonhound has been part of the pageantry and tradition at the University of Tennessee since 1953, delighting fans both young and old. For this entertaining and enlightening book, UT sports historian Thomas J. Mattingly has teamed up with longtime Smokey owner Earl C. Hudson to tell the stories of the nine hounds that have been top dog on campus for more than half a century. It was the Rev. Bill Brooks, Hudson’s brother-in-law, whose prize-winning dog “Brooks’ Blue Smokey,” became the first mascot by winning a student body-led contest at a home football game in 1953. The Coonhound breed was selected because it was native to the state, and several (no one remembers exactly how many) were brought onto the field at halftime to compete. But Smokey stole the show when he threw back his head and howled. The crowd cheered, and Smokey howled again. The raucous applause and barking built to a frenzy. The enthusiastic hound won the hearts of the Volunteer faithful that day, and he and the dogs that followed have remained among the University of Tennessee’s most popular symbols ever since. The authors have interviewed Smokey’s former handlers, university archivists, sports journalists, and local historians as well as legions of longtime fans. Their recollections provide not only the background of the mascot but a history of UT athletics as well. Vol fans will enjoy reading about Smokey’s adventures throughout the years, from his kidnapping in 1955 by mischievous Kentucky students to his confrontation with the Baylor Bear at the 1957 Sugar Bowl to the time he suffered heat exhaustion at the 1991 UCLA game and was listed on the Vols’ injury report until his return later in the season. Filled with photographs and memorabilia, including vintage game programs, football schedules, letters, cartoons, and more, this book brings to life the magic of UT football and the endearing canines that have become such an indispensable part of the experience. THOMAS J. MATTINGLY is the author of Tennessee Football: The Peyton Manning Years, The University of Tennessee Football Vault: The Story of the Tennessee Volunteers, 1891-2006, The University of Tennessee All-Access Football Vault and The University of Tennessee Trivia Book. He writes about Vol history on his Knoxville News Sentinel blog, “The Vol Historian.” EARL C. HUDSON’s family have cared for the Smokeys since 1994.

An illustrated picture book, the text of which is the lyric of a song celebrating the game-day football traditions of The University of Tennessee Volunteers. A Cd featuring Joel Reese singing "When It's Football Time in Tennessee" is included. The Cd also features two tracks of performances by The University of Tennessee "Pride of the Southland Band."

Did you know that hundreds of Tennessee Volunteers fans dock their boats outside the stadium before games? These fans are known as the “Vol Navy.” Learn more about this college team’s history, traditions, uniforms, team records, coaches, and legendary players in Tennessee Volunteers, part of the Inside College Football series

"Haywood Harris and Gus Manning, who together represent more than one hundred years of following the Vols, conducted dozens of interviews and combed through countless newspaper articles and picture collections to tell this story. In these pages, the reader will encounter demanding but fair-minded coaches - from the legendary Bob Neyland to Doug Dickey and Phillip Fulmer - who guided their teams to the national spotlight, as well as the many outstanding players whose running, passing, kicking, blocking, and tackling made the difference in game after game."--BOOK JACKET.

From A to Z, you'll discover Tennessee's mountains, music, and mammals. V is for Volunteer stimulates children to learn about their state through familiar Tennessee icons like the Grand Ole Opry and Graceland. And even lifelong Tennesseans may learn something new about the Jubilee Singers and W.C. Handy. Illustrator Bruce Langton captures the beauty, natural wonder, and history of the Volunteer state through his colorful paintings. With poetry for younger children and expository text for older readers, author and Tennessee educator Mike Shoulders shares the important lessons of the Trail of Tears, Sequoyah and his alphabet and so much more. V is for Volunteer will intrigue and charm readers and Tennesseans of all ages!