Three Tennessee Football Players We Should ‘Revive’ In 2025

By Cody McClure

In case you haven’t been following the news this week, you should know that dire wolves are BACK.

Scientists made historic progress recently in reviving a species that was previously extinct.

The dire wolf has been brought back into the field thousands of years after it died off by a company called Colossal Biosciences.

The company reportedly said it has successfully birthed three dire wolves, a species that was prevalent in North America over 12,500 years ago.

How cute:

Image: Colossal Biosciences

Pretty groundbreaking stuff.

So anyway, to tie it into the Vols, it got me to thinking about which players I would like to “revive” for this year’s team.

Three dire wolves. Three players. Who would improve this roster the most and give us a chance at a national championship?

My strategy here is going to be to leave the defense alone.

Now would Reggie White or Eric Berry or Al Wilson make this defense better?

Yes. Obviously. And if you’d like to pick one of those guys on your list, more power to you. But my winning strategy is going to be in making this offense explosive as hell.

The defense was stacked last year, and it returns plenty of key pieces at every position group. So since we only get three picks here, I’m going to use them all on offense.

Peyton Manning

I thought strongly about just rolling with Nico Iamaleava and getting another top-tier offensive lineman in here but then I thought again. Why would you not just go ahead and put your all-time best player at the most important position on the field? It seems like it would be dumb not to. Nothing against Nico, but a sophomore with upside vs. a two-time Super Bowl champion? Yeah, let’s go ahead and let Peyton sling it around the field.

Jalin Hyatt

Tennessee has some tremendous receivers in its history — Willie Gault, Peerless Price, Joey Kent… the list goes on. But when it comes to being familiar with the Josh Heupel offense and having a track record of unbelievable success in it, you can’t really look any further than Hyatt. The burst, the speed, always open it seemed. An absolute lightning rod. And unlike Nico or other quarterbacks (again, no flame), Peyton would never miss him. It would be absolutely unstoppable.

Jamal Lewis

Again, I thought about going with an offensive lineman here, but ultimately I’m just gonna stick with the solid blockers and transfers we’ve got and hope David Sanders is a stud tackle. Let’s add the greatest Tennessee running back of all time, who also had an outstanding pro career. Jamal toting the rock would be a sight to see with all of those open lanes. Everybody would be worried about Peyton and Hyatt then we’d unleash this beast on ‘em. Natty incoming.