Tennessee Reacts To Exciting Peyton Manning News

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Nate Lunak | Last updated Jun 20, 2025 1:23 PM ET

There's no doubt that throughout his 18-year career in the NFL (1998-2015), former quarterback Peyton Manning established himself as one of the best players in league history.

Of course, since retiring, he's already earned a number of different honors, including being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and having his jersey retired by the Indianapolis Colts, but on Wednesday, he earned another.

ESPN announced he was one of three quarterbacks selected, along with Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes, for their "NFL All Quarter Century team," which picked 53 of the best players in the league based on production since 2000.

That caught the attention of the Tennessee Volunteers, where he spent his collegiate years, who took to social media with their own post to congratulate the legendary quarterback.

Congrats to Peyton Manning and Morgan Cox on being named to the @espn All Quarter Century NFL team #NFLVols | #GBO pic.twitter.com/5SWbUWdG23
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) June 19, 2025

There's no doubt that Manning is worthy of this achievement, because from 2000-2015, he completed 5,468-of-8,272 passes for 64,066 yards, 487 touchdowns, 208 interceptions and a 98.6 passer rating.

In that time, he was also named to 13 Pro Bowls, earned First-Team All-Pro honors seven times, won five MVP Awards (most in NFL history), Offensive Player of the Year twice and two Super Bowls (one with the Denver Broncos and one with the Colts)

Though maybe none of this success would have been possible if not for the four years with Tennessee, where he finished within the top 10 of Heisman Trophy voting three times and earned All-America honors in his senior season.

That time, with the Volunteers, of course, helped turn Manning into the No. 1 pick in the 1998 NFL Draft to the Indianapolis Colts, which was the start of one of the most impressive all-around careers in league history.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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