All-Decade Awards from 2010s

All-Decade Awards

The decade of Tennessee football has been a whirlwind highlighted by multiple coaching changes, gut-wrenching losses, breaking the streak against Florida, and ripping Georgia's heart out with a last-second hail mary. There are several awards to handout for the 2010s that helped to highlight the decade.

Let's start with the biggest win of the decade- It is tough to argue that the Vols won a bigger game at the time than when they broke the streak against Florida in 2016. Rallying from a 17 point first-half deficit, Tennessee went on to score 38 unanswered points to knock the Gators off. The win was big for the fans and the players on that team at the time. However, the Vols were not able to carry the momentum out through the end of the season.

Toughest loss- Might as well throw several in a hat and draw them out here, right? This one was a tough choice for us to decide on, probably the toughest on the list. However, the award goes to the overtime loss against Oklahoma in 2015. Tennessee surrendered a 17 point lead to the Sooners before eventually losing in overtime. This loss hurt Tennessee on several levels that affected that Tennessee team down the stretch.

Biggest Recruiting win- Tennessee won some recruiting battles during the 2010s, but none was bigger than Henry To'oto'o. The Vols went to the west coast and grabbed an elite linebacker that made an immediate impact for them from the time he stepped foot on campus. Tennessee also beat out Alabama to do so, and the Vols were big winners on National Signing Day during Jeremy Pruitt's first full class on Rocky Top.

Biggest Recruiting Loss- This one is obvious, and everyone knows the story. When Tennessee lost Cade Mays to SEC East Rival Georgia, the Vols suffered a major blow on the recruiting trail. I do not need to go any further into this story, as everyone knows how bad of a loss this was.

Best Play of the Decade- This one easy to pick for several reasons. In one play, a legend was born. Dobbs heaved it, and Jennings came down with it to deliver a crushing defeat to Georgia in Athens. The play came just moments after Georgia had hit a home run of their own, which looked like it would end the game. The win pushed Tennessee to 5-0 on the season and set up a big-time showdown at College Station against Texas A&M.

Best Single game performance- This one was tough to nail down because there were so many single-game performances that stood out. You had multiple performances by Tyler Bray, Derek Barnett's performance against Florida in 2016 where he was virtually unblockable, Alvin Kamara's stellar performance against Texas A&M, and Jalen Reeves-Maybin's 21 tackle outing against Oklahoma in 2015. Eric Gray's 200-yard rushing performance against Vanderbilt and Jarrett Guarantano's 400-yard passing performance against Missouri were also talking points. However, the award goes to Josh Dobbs and his performance against South Carolina in 2014. Dobbs threw for 301 yards and 2 touchdowns, and he added 166 more yards and 3 scores on the ground.

The Best Player of the Decade-This award goes to Derek Barnett. Barnett is one of the best players to come through Tennesee regardless of the time frame. Barnett broke Reggie White's sack record and put up a gaudy stat line during his time in Knoxville. Barnett totaled 197 tackles, 52 TFL's, and 33 sacks during his three years on Rocky Top. He would go on to be drafted 14th overall by the Philadelphia Eagles.