Peyton’s Return a Volunteer of Love

Peyton Manning has heard it all before:

He stayed at Tennessee to win the Heisman Trophy so he can parlay college football’s top award into a huge pro contract, then top it off with a zillion dollars in endorsements.

It had to be something mercenary, didn’t it? No modern athlete turns away when the money’s on the table.

“Bull,” Manning said.

“I did what I wanted to do. I wanted to come out one more year and be a senior in college at Tennessee. People can analyze every single thing in the world, but there’s really not much to it.”

In a world where the NFL is the goal of virtually every college football player, Manning is fulfilling a lifelong love affair with games played on Saturdays.

He simply wasn’t ready to give it up, not even for the $25 million or so he could have gotten as a pro.

“I know there’s been an awful lot said already about Peyton returning, but I don’t think enough can be said about his character and integrity,” Volunteers coach Phillip Fulmer said. “Even though he doesn’t necessarily want it to be, he made a great statement for all of college football, the University of Tennessee, and our football program.”

Archie Manning, Peyton’s father, former star at Mississippi and a two-time All-Pro with the New Orleans Saints, said he has been amazed at the number of positive letters and comments he’s gotten since Peyton decided to stay.

“Peyton has never looked back on it and is happier than I’ve ever seen him,” Archie said. “That makes his mother and I and his brothers feel better than anything else.”

Peyton never saw his father play college ball. But as a boy he listened to--even memorized--taped radio broadcasts from Archie’s days at Mississippi.

When the time came to pick a college, Manning broke a lot of Rebel hearts when he spurned his father’s alma mater and went to Tennessee. He said then that it was the right place for him, and he repeated the statement when he decided to stay.

“Believe me, I want to have an even better experience in the NFL than I’ve had in college,” he said. “I just wanted to play one more year in college first.”

Manning graduated cum laude in May with a degree in speech communications, taking just three years to get his diploma. This fall, for the first time since he got to campus, he won’t be taking a full course load. He is continuing his education in communications as a graduate student.

The differences between Manning in 1994 and now are striking.

He has gained 30 pounds since his freshman year and now weighs 225 pounds. He has a stronger and more accurate arm. He’s gotten faster and, as a result, now even is willing to admit his real height.

He used to say 6-foot-6 “sounds slow,” so he insisted he was only 6-5 3/4.

He’s also become a confirmed country music fan--he catches a lot of flak for that when he goes home to New Orleans--and even knows all the words to “Rocky Top,” the school’s unofficial anthem.

He took it easy this summer, traveled, played a lot of golf. But once practice started Aug. 11, that was over.

“I don’t like the word relaxed,” he said. “I think relaxed means complacent or satisfied. I want to keep improving, keep getting better.”

Manning already owns 28 Tennessee passing records, including career yardage (7,382), completions (576) and touchdowns (53). He’s 28-4 as a starter, and either is or will be in the top five of most career SEC passing categories by the time he’s finished.

But his team has never won so much as an SEC Eastern Division title, despite a 21-3 record the last two years. Being in the same division as defending national champion Florida will do that.

“I don’t like it when one of our guys says, ‘Well, if we hadn’t turned it over we’d have won,”’ Manning said of the last two Florida losses. “Florida just flat beat us the past two years, plain and simple. They were better than us and they beat us.”

Manning will be at the top of most preseason lists of Heisman favorites. The questions about it started before last season--he finished sixth in the voting as a sophomore, eighth last year--and his stock answer hasn’t wavered.

“I’m not about the Heisman,” he said. “I want to go out and win. If individual things come my way, fine, but all I want to do is win games.”

Seconds later, characteristically softening any unintended barb, he added: “It’s a huge award. It’s as prestigious as it gets. I’m not trying to knock the award. I just can’t go out and try to win it.”

What Manning said he wants most is a successful season for his team. The Vols were hyped as national championship contenders last year, and open this season ranked No. 5 in The Associated Press preseason poll.

The first two games are tough nonconference contests, against Texas Tech in Knoxville and UCLA in Pasadena.

The Florida game, for the past four years the defining moment of the SEC Eastern Division race, is in Gainesville on Sept. 20. Alabama lurks down the road in Birmingham in October.

Given the Vols’ problems with Florida, plus lessons learned from last year’s upset loss to Memphis, championship talk is muted this year.

“We have an extremely challenging schedule and all we want to do is be competitive every Saturday,” Manning said. “If it does work out, then we can talk about it. But right now there’s no point in talking. We just haven’t gotten the job done the past two years. It’s more of a humbled approach. Let’s go out and give it our best shot, and see what happens.”