Regular visitors of Notinhalloffame.com know that we are slowly working on the top 50 of every major team in the NHL, NBA, NFL, and MLB. Once that is done, we will examine how each team honors its past players, coaches, and executives. As such, it is important to us that the University of Tennessee’s Athletic Hall of Fame has announced eight new member who comprise the Class of 2025.

The inductees are:

Eric Berry, Football, 2007-09.  Berry was the first and only two-time Unanimous All-American in Volunteers history, and was the 2009 Jim Thorpe Award winner.  A three-time All-SEC Selection, Berry won the 2008 SEC Defensive Player of the Year and the 2008 & 2009 Jack Tatum Award winner.  At Tennessee he recorded 14 Interceptions, and went on to have a very successful professional career with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Jenny Connolly, Women’s Swimming & Diving, 2009-12.  Connolly compiled 14 SEC Medals and 5 NCAA Medals and is one of the most successful backstroke and butterfly swimmers in Tennessee history.

A.W. Davis, Men’s Basketball, 1962-65.  Davis was a two-time All-SEC Selection, and would later serve Tennessee as a Coach and then an Analyst.

Mike Masters, Men’s Swimming & Diving, 1985-88.  Masters was a 12-time All-American, two-time SEC Champions and won the Bronze in the 1987 100m Freestyle.

Lauryn McCalley, Women’s Swimming & Diving, 2001-05.  McCauley won the 2005 NCAA Woman of the Year and was a five-time All-American diver. 

Lindsay Schutzler, Softball, 2004-07.  A three-time All-American, Schutzler hold the school record for Hits (362), Triples (20), At-Bats (946) and Games Played (296).  She led the Lady Vols to their first Women’s College World Series appearance.

Mike Sposa, Men’s Golf, 1988-91.  A two-time All-SEC Selection, Sposa was the third Volunteer to win the individual SEC Title.

Tony White, Men’s Basketball, 1983-87.  White is the only player in Volunteer history to lead the team in scoring and holds the single-game record for points (51) in school history.

The event will take place on April 11-12 this year.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the impending members of the University of Tennessee Athletic Hall of Fame.

A multi-faceted offensive player at Tennessee, Stanley Morgan was taken by the New England Patriots in the First Round of the 1977 Draft and was a prime offensive threat for the Pats for over a decade.

Originally used more as a returner as a rookie, the “Stanley Steamer” emerged as one of the top deep threats in football by his third season.  Quick as lightning, Morgan led the NFL three years in a row in Yards per Reception (1979-81), and was the league leader in Touchdown Receptions with 12 in 1979.  Excellent in short and long routes, Morgan consistently gained yardage after the first touch.  Although he helped the Patriots reach the Super Bowl against the untouchable 1985 Chicago Bears, Morgan did not have many great players around him to relieve the load, which limited his overall touches.  After the Super Bowl loss, Morgan had his third and fourth Pro Bowl selections and remained with the Patriots until 1989.  He retired after a final season as an Indianapolis Colt, leaving with 10,716 yards and 72 TDs.

As of this writing, no player with over 500 Receptions has a higher Yards per Reception than Stanley Morgan.

Drafted in the 3rd Round out of Tennessee in 2003, Witten would see significant playing time in his rookie year, but in 2004 he would rise to Pro Bowl status with a 980 Yard season. This was the first of many seasons in which the Dallas Cowboys would consider him an elite Tight End.

From 2005 to 2010 he would be named to six more Pro Bowls, which would also include two First Team All Pro Selections. Four more Pro Bowls would follow (2012-14 & 2017). Four of his seasons would see Witten exceed over 90 Receptions and 1,000 Yards, incredible numbers for a Tight End.

Witten first retired after the 2017 season with 11 Pro Bowls and went into the broadcast booth for ESPN for their Monday Night Football package.  He unretired in 2019, joined the Las Vegas Raiders in 2020, and retired for good.

Witten retired as the all-time Cowboys leader in Receptions (1,215) and Receiving Yards (12,977), with 13,046 Yards and 74 Touchdowns in total, behind only Tony Gonzalez among Tight Ends.

Eric Berry played his college ball at Tennessee, where he was one of the most prolific Defensive Backs in school history.  With the Volunteers, Berry was a two-time Consensus All-American and was the SEC Defensive Player of the Year in 2008, so it was little wonder that Berry was the first Defensive Back taken in the 2010 Draft.

It was the Kansas City Chiefs who took Berry with the Fifth Overall Pick, and he immediately went to the Pro Bowl as a rookie as the Chiefs’ starting Strong Safety.  Berry only played one game in 2011 due to injury, but he returned healthy in 2012, again going to the Pro Bowl that season and the one after, which netted him a First Team All-Pro.  

Berry got hurt in 2014, and after he returned, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma.  He was cleared of cancer in the summer of 2015, and he returned that year, healthy and dominant.  Berry was a First Team All-Pro in both 2015 and 2016, and he was a Pro Bowl Selection five times in the decade.  Achilles problems limited him to only three games over the next two seasons, and he was released in March 2019.  Berry's ability to return and play so much despite all the setbacks is a testament to his courage.

The Safety was named to the 2010s All-Decade Team and would collect 14 Interceptions with 445 Combined Tackles over his career.

Playing his college ball at the University of Tennessee, Beattie Feathers would have an incredible rookie season with the Chicago Bears where in 1934 he would become the first 1,000 Yard rusher (though there are some football historians who dispute the accuracy) and he would also lead the league in All-Purpose Yards and Yards from Scrimmage and was a First Team All-Pro.  In the six seasons he played after (with Chicago, Brooklyn, and Green Bay), he didn't tally as much as he did as a rookie, but that campaign was so incredible and historical that he deserves a spot here.

Mike Stratton was the leader of one of the best linebacking crews in the American Football League, though his accomplishments seem to have been forgotten in the game’s folklore.  A 13^th Round Pick from Tennessee in 1962, Stratton fit in immediately with the Buffalo Bills, settling in at Right Linebacker, and from 1963 to 1968, he was a perennial AFL All-Star with two of those years seeing him chosen for First Team All-Pro.  Stratton was a massive cog in the Bills’ AFL Championship wins in 1964 and 1965, and in the former, he made "the hit heard round the world,” taking San Diego Chargers Running Back Keith Lincoln out of the game and changing the momentum of a game that Buffalo was losing in the first half.  

Stratton would be named a Second Team All-AFL player and is recognized in the Bills Wall of Fame.

Drafted 5^th overall out of the University of Tennessee, Jamal Lewis was an immediate offensive force for the Baltimore Ravens, rushing for 1,364 Yards in his rookie season.  More importantly, the Ravens went to the Super Bowl, and Lewis rushed for over 100 Yards and a TD in their Super Bowl XXXV win.  A knee injury took him out of his sophomore season, but he came back in 2002 with another 1,300-yard season, though it was his 2003 year that places him on this list.  He rushed for 2,066 Yards, which, as of this writing, is the third-best in history.  That year, Lewis was named the AP Offensive Player of the Year.

Lewis would have four more seasons where he exceeded 1,000 Rushing Yards (two with Baltimore and two with the Cleveland Browns), and he finished his career with 10,607 Rushing Yards with 58 TDs.