The Tennessee Vols finished the season 9-4 for the second consecutive year under Coach Butch Jones, capped by a 38-24 win over Nebraska in the Music City Bowl.
Many Vol fans had high expectations for a team favored to win the SEC East. On paper, the team boasted talented juniors and seniors; the Vols’ record had improved every year since Jones arrived in 2013.
Tennessee started the 2016 campaign with a 5-0 record, the best the program had seen since 1998. It appeared as if the team could achieve several milestones: a division title (first one since 2007), ten wins in the regular season (hasn’t happened since 2001), or a berth to the Sugar Bowl (1991). Unfortunately, none of it came to be.
Team 120 finished the season 4-4 after its historic start to the season, and fell short of expectations.
However, the rollercoaster of a season featured some of the best moments Rocky Top has seen. Here are the top ten moments of the 2016 season.
But first, some honorable mentions (in no particular order):
HM: Butch Jones ices kicker at Texas A&M
In the waning seconds of the fourth quarter at College Station, the Vols and Aggies were tied 35-35. A&M had a chance to seal the game with a 38-yard field goal, and the team called on sophomore kicker Daniel LaCamera to be the hero.
Butch Jones called not one, but two timeouts before LaCamera had a chance to kick the ball. The result: the kick attempt carried way to the left, no good, and the game went to overtime.
HM: Micah Abernathy’s game-ending pass breakup vs. Appalachian State
Tennessee’s first game of the season was an overtime thriller, much to the surprise of the 100,000-plus in attendance at Neyland Stadium. Holding on to a seven-point lead, Big Orange had the Mountaineers on their last leg on fourth down. Taylor Lamb, Appalachian State’s quarterback, threw a dart headed for the end zone.
Vols sophomore defensive back Micah Abernathy lunged in front of receiver Shaedon Meadors, cleanly breaking up the pass and clinching the Vols’ first win of 2016.
HM: Derek Barnett's strip sack leads to Corey Vereen's touchdown vs. Georgia
This play would’ve easily made the top ten had it clinched the Vols' win over the Bulldogs. But Jauan Jennings did what Jauan Jennings does, so here we are with second best play of the game.
The Vols' special teams unit executed everything perfectly to set up this play. Trevor Daniel kicked a perfect punt from the UGA 43-yard line, and long-snapper Riley Lovingood caught the ball on the fly and downed it at the Georgia six-yard line.
Two plays later, freshman quarterback Jacob Eason made a brutal mistake, pump faking and holding on to the ball for way too long. Defense end Derek Barnett and linebacker Cortez McDowell pounced, with the ball coming loose and ending in the hands of Corey Vereen in the end zone.
HM: Evan Berry’s one hundred-yard kick return for touchdown vs. South Carolina
While his 2016 season was cut short due to injury, Evan Berry proved himself valuable to Tennessee in all three phases of the game. It’s haunting to think how some games would have ended without his contributions on special teams.
The All-SEC junior’s most brilliant play came in the third quarter at South Carolina. Gamecock kicker Elliott Fry kicked a 65-yarder to the end zone. Rather than kneel for a touchback, Berry bulleted across the field, returning the kick the full one hundred yards for a touchdown. Tennessee just lost the game, 24-21.
HM: Jonathan Kongbo’s interception return for touchdown
Defensive coordinator Bob Shoop said before the Music City Bowl fans may have expected too much from junior college transfer Jonathan Kongbo.
The defensive lineman showed spurts of potential in the Vols’ win over Ohio in mid-September. He wouldn’t record a solo tackle until a November showdown against the Missouri Tigers.
Facing a third-and-long in the fourth quarter and down by 19 points, Missouri quarterback Drew Lock threw a shrimp of a pass into the hands of the defensive tackle. Kongbo chugged 59 yards to the end zone, much to the delight of his teammates.
Kongbo capped his first season as Vol with his best game yet against Nebraska. Following weeks of bowl prep, Kongbo recorded four tackles – three solo – in the Music City Bowl, and notched his first career sack.
Okay, now for the Top 10:
#10. Jalen Hurd saves the day vs. Appalachian State
Tennessee was looking at a third-and-goal situation in overtime against the Mountaineers. Quarterback Josh Dobbs rolled out, and sprinted for the end zone. Pent up against the Mountaineer’s defense, Dobbs jumped and extended his arms out to cross the goal line.
But the ball came loose and Dobbs got the wind knocked out of him.
The orange and white checkerboard end zone became a scrum for the football, with Jalen Hurd among the first to fall on the ball. After several seconds of sorting through the chaos, the referees declared a Tennessee touchdown.
It was one of Hurd’s last touchdowns as a Vol, and the most meaningful one before he left the team.
#9. Trey Smith commits to Tennessee
Vol fans needed a pick-me-up after a deflating loss to Vanderbilt in November. Luckily, five-star offensive tackle prospect Trey Smith gave them the perfect gift on St. Nick’s Day.
The Jackson, Tennessee native chose Rocky Top over Alabama and Ohio State, saying “We’ll make make Tennessee elite again.”
Expect Smith to make an immediate impact on Rocky Top as a freshman in 2017.
#8. Todd Kelly Jr. changes his number to honor Zaevion Dobson
The start of fall camp saw one of the most important off-the-field stories become a part of Tennessee football lore.
Knoxville native Todd Kelly Jr. changed his number to Zaevion Dobson’s no. 24, honoring the Fulton football player who died shielding his friends from gunfire. Kelly and Dobson were friends.
“He represented the city so well and he loved the game so much,” Kelly said at the time. “It was his dream to play Division 1 football, and that was cut short, so I feel like me wearing his number, everyone knows what it stands for, when they see that 24 they know what it continues.”
Zaevion’s mother, Zenobia Dobson, told 10News her son would continue influence the community well into the future.
“Zaevion is the one telling the story,” Dobson said when discovering her son would win the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. “He's telling the story. He was a writer. He loved making up stories…now he gets the chance to tell his own story about his life.”
#7. Josh Dobbs gets curtain call vs. Missouri
Senior quarterback Josh Dobbs was locked in for the Vols’ final five games of 2016, and he dazzled in Tennessee’s 63-37 over Missouri.
Dobbs threw 15-of-22 for 223 yards and three touchdowns. He rushed for 190 yards on ten carries and two touchdowns. The team captain’s prowess lifted Tennessee over the Tigers, the team against whom Dobbs made his first start as a Vol back in 2013.
Butch Jones made a classy move in the fourth quarter by calling timeout and taking Dobbs out of the game one last time.
And the senior quarterback got to conduct the Pride of the Southland Band one last time at Neyland Stadium, before doing it again at the Music City Bowl.
#6. Vols win Battle at Bristol
Marketed as college football’s biggest game ever, the Battle at Bristol pitted Tennessee against the Virginia Tech Hokies on a football field constructed inside Bristol Motor Speedway.
156,990 fans gathered inside the Last Great Colosseum on September 10 to see the spectacle unfold.
A tumultuous first quarter saw the Hokies take a 14-0 lead. But Tennessee exploded for 24 points in the second quarter, with all of Josh Dobbs, Josh Malone, Aaron Medley, and Jauan Jennings contributing to the scores. Tennessee’s defense shut down Virginia Tech, only allowing ten points in the second half. The Vols won 45-24.
#5. Dobbs wins MVP of Music City Bowl
Josh Dobbs accounted for more than 400 all-purpose yards to help Tennessee cap its 9-4 season in style.
In his final game as a Vol, Dobbs was 23-of-38 on pass attempts, with one long 59-yard touchdown pass to Josh Malone. On the ground, Dobbs ran for 118 yards on 11 carries and three touchdowns, with his longest for 29 yards.
His performance stood out above the rest of a 38-24 team win over Nebraska.
#4. Jauan Jennings burns Florida’s Jalen Tabor
The best come-from-behind win in recent memory for Tennessee was a slow burner. People forget the Vols didn’t have their first lead in their 38-24 win over Florida until the fourth quarter.
Unease rattled the sellout Neyland crowd as Tennessee drove to start the fourth quarter. Then, one play proved Tennessee could pull off the comeback.
Josh Dobbs lobbed a pass to wide receiver Jauan Jennings, who deked past star Florida defensive back Jalen Tabor to carry the ball 67 yards for the touchdown. The catch capped an efficient four-play, 78-yard drive that took only 1:30 off the clock. Tennessee led, 24-21.
#3. Derek Barnett breaks Reggie White’s sack record
Defensive end Derek Barnett will go down as the best defender of all time at Tennessee. That is, unless someone shatters his school sack record like he did Reggie White’s.
Barnett tied White’s record, set in 1983, in Tennessee’s regular season finale loss at Vanderbilt. There was no guarantee he would break the record in the Music City Bowl against Nebraska’s offensive line, who had only allowed 11 sacks up to that point.
The junior star came close on several occasions, but Cornhuskers backup quarterback Ryker Fyfe kept getting the ball off before Barnett could touch him.
Then, on a desperation drive in the fourth quarter and facing a third-and-26, Fyfe surrendered.
Defensive tackle Jonathan Kongbo had just sacked Fyfe the previous play, and the weary quarterback was no match for Barnett.
Barnett pushed Fyfe to the ground on Nebraska's second-to-last drive of the game, notching the elusive 33rd sack of his career. Teammates flooded from the sidelines, mobbing Barnett on the field as the crowd roared in appreciation. Tennessee had to call a timeout to celebrate.
#2. Todd Kelly Jr. picks off Austin Appleby
If Jauan Jennings’ clutch catch proved Tennessee had a chance to beat Florida, Todd Kelly Jr.’s key interception proved it wasn’t a fluke.
Florida’s first drive of the fourth quarter came with the Vols hanging on to a 24-21 lead. Senior quarterback Austin Appleby got caught in traffic in the backfield, and threw a weak pass toward a receiver.
Junior safety Todd Kelly Jr. slid on the grass, landing just in front of the airborne football, and cradled it in his hands just before it hit the ground.
Tennessee would convert for a touchdown on its ensuing two drives, en route to its first win against the Gators since 2004.
Appleby said the following week: “I truly believe the better team didn’t win on Saturday.”
Sure.
#1. The Hail Mary
You knew this was coming.
In a game Tennessee won, lost, and won again, the last-second Hail Mary from Josh Dobbs to Jauan Jennings made the nation believe the 5-0 Volunteers were a team of destiny, unstoppable and headed for greatness.
Sure, the Vols failed to back up that hype in the weeks after their 34-31 win over Georgia. On October 2, 2016, however, there was no denying the potential of the 2016 Vols.
Evan Berry’s kick return for 20 yards and quick dash out of bounds set the Vols up for one deep pass to the end zone. Everyone on Team 120 was on board.
Josh Dobbs took the snap with four seconds left on the clock and threw a rocket into the end zone for 43 yards. Sophomore wide receiver Jauan Jennings was the first to wrap his hands around the football and make the catch, sealing the win.
When all is said and done, the Hail Mary will stand out as one of the most iconic and defining moments in Tennessee football.
And it’s hands down the best moment in Tennessee football in 2016.
