Peyton Manning is one of the most beloved advertising pitchmen in the NFL based on the popularity of his endearing commercials. Long before the quarterbacking guru was entertaining fans and winning a plethora of NFL games he was fine tuning his passing skills as a competitor on the University of Tennessee (UT) Volunteers football team in Nashville, Tennessee.
Coming off of a senior year of high school in which the New Orleans, Louisiana native had accumulated numerous accolades including being named the Gatorade National Player of the Year Peyton had a multitude of college football scholarship offers to consider. The fact that Peyton Manning is the son of a former NFL star quarterback by the name of Archie Manning only amplified the attention and exposure that the teenage signal caller received.
Despite pressure from some sources to follow in the footsteps of his father and attend the University of Mississippi in Oxford (commonly referred to simply as Ole Miss) like his father did Peyton instead chose to go his on route. The eighteen year old decided to join head football coach Phillip Fullmer in Knoxville, Tennessee where he became a Tennessee Volunteer football player.
As a freshman in 1994 Peyton saw significant playing time when injuries to first and second string quarterbacks Todd Helton and Jerry Colquitt thrust the freshmen into the mix. The University of Tennessee capped off a season comprised of eight wins and four losses during the first year Peyton was on campus with a commanding 45-23 Gator Bowl win over Virginia Tech.
As a sophomore Peyton led the UT Volunteers to a one loss season which concluded with a Citrus Bowl victory over Ohio State University. The only loss of the season occurred against Southeast Conference (SEC) rival the University of Florida Gators. Despite a Tennessee half time lead over the Gators, Florida won the head to head contest handily by a final score of 62-37 (after Tennessee led 30-21 at the half). In the final polls at the end of the season the University of Tennessee finished number three in the Associated Press Poll and number two (ahead of Florida) in the Coaches Poll.
During his junior year in Knoxville the team that Peyton Manning quarterbacked failed to live up to expectations when as the preseason number two team they were upset by both the University of Florida (35-29) and the University of Memphis (21-17). A postseason Citrus Bowl win over the Northwestern University Wildcats secured a top ten finish for the UT football program which finished number nine in both the Associated Press and Coaches Polls.
Despite completing his undergraduate degree in three years and being a projected number one overall pick for the 1997 NFL Draft Peyton Manning returned for his senior season. Manning failed to win an elusive national championship his senior year but did leave Knoxville as the best quarterback in school history with records for most touchdowns (89) and passing yards (11,201). As a starting quarterback Peyton Manning was 39-6 in college.
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