ESPN had no choice but to put Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel near the top of their latest rankings list

Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel didn't receive much love from ESPN in their latest head coach rankings that were revealed earlier this month (Heupel was ranked inside their top 10 coaches, receiving the same amount of votes as SMU's Rhett Lashlee). 

ESPN, however, had no choice but to place Heupel near the top of their latest rankings list. 

On Monday, ESPN revealed their rankings of the top 30 head coaches based on their college football playing days. And Heupel was near the top of their rankings thanks to his impressive two seasons with the Oklahoma Sooners. 

Heupel, who was a runner-up in the 2000 Heisman Trophy race while leading the Sooners to a national championship, came in at No. 3 in ESPN's rankings. 

From ESPN: Heupel grew up in South Dakota and was the state's player of the year in high school. But without a clear path to start for a major college program, he first went to Weber State, where he went through an ACL injury and appeared in only four games before transferring within the state to Snow College. Heupel earned junior college All-America honors there before transferring to Oklahoma. He immediately made his presence known in 1999 with 3,850 passing yards and 33 touchdowns. Heupel then led the Sooners to a national title in 2000, recording 3,606 passing yards and 20 touchdowns. He was named AP Player of the Year, won the Walter Camp Award and consensus All-America honors, and was runner-up for the Heisman Trophy. A sixth-round NFL draft pick in 2001, Heupel didn't see time in the pros.

*ESPN notes that Heupel didn't see time in the pros, but he did play in a preseason game with the Miami Dolphins in 2001, during which he suffered a wrist injury that ultimately led to the end of brief NFL career. 

The only coaches that were ranked above Heupel were Bowling Green's Eddie George and Colorado's Deion Sanders. 

George won the Heisman Trophy in 1995 and had his No. 27 jersey retired by the Ohio State Buckeyes. 

Sanders, meanwhile, won the Jim Thorpe Award in 1988 and he was a two-time unanimous All-American at Florida State. Additionally, Sanders is undoubtedly one of the greatest pure athletes in the history of sports.