Playing the what-if game: Peyton leaves early for NFL

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Each Friday during the summer, GoVols247 will look back Adam Thielen Jersey at some of Tennessee football's most interesting what-if moments from the last three decades. How would history have been different for the Vols if a certain game ended in Adrian Peterson Youth Jersey another outcome or a pivotal player (or coach) made a different decision? There are plenty of what-if scenarios worth revisiting, but we'll try to stick to the biggest ones. When Peyton Manning set Alex Boone Jersey a Tennessee bowl record by throwing for 408 yards and tossing four touchdown passes in a 48-28 whitewashing of Northwestern in the Citrus Bowl on New Year's Day 1997, it felt at the time like it was his final game for the Vols. Awaiting the greatest quarterback in Tennessee's rich history was a decision: Jump into the NFL draft, where he Anthony Barr Authentic Jersey almost assuredly was going to be the top quarterback taken and potentially the No. 1 overall pick, or staying for his senior year. Nowadays those decisions Chris Doleman Authentic Jersey are usually done by mid-January, but at the time an exception affording graduates more time. Manning had until April to make his decision. The three months of uncertainty had to be torturous to Tennessee fans and everyone involved with the program. Instead Manning returned Danielle Hunter Youth Jersey and guided the Vols to the SEC championship and an Orange Bowl appearance in 1997. The first season after he left, the Vols went undefeated and won the national championship. Manning was the No. 1 pick in the 1998 NFL draft and would go on to win two Super Bowls and set multiple NFL records during his Hall of Fame career with the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos.