Tee Martin was already halfway out the door when Tennessee’s quarterback future changed course.
When he signed with the Volunteers, Martin believed the path was straightforward: back up Peyton Manning for a season, then take over in 1997. That was the expectation until Manning passed on the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft and returned for his senior year, a decision Martin still sees as a major turning point. “It was one of my first lessons early in my college career,” he said on the Hear Me Out Podcast with Elzy and Butts.
Martin said he never saw the return coming. “In recruiting, I was told that there's no way he's coming back for his senior season,” Martin explained.
“He's one of the hottest quarterbacks in the country, he'll be a first-round pick and all of this stuff.” From Martin’s point of view, the starting job had simply been postponed.
Then came the press conference at Thompson-Boling Arena, and Martin read the room his own way. He said he was watching from the lobby of Gibbs on a small TV when he noticed how many people had shown up.
“They had that big press conference at Thompson-Boling Arena. I was in the lobby of Gibbs watching on that little TV down there, and I'm just kind of like, hold on, it's like a parade, everybody is at this thing,” Martin said.
“There's no way everyone's gonna show up if he's gonna leave... There's no way he's gonna stand in front of all these people and say, 'I'm leaving.'”
He was right - and immediately started making plans to leave himself.
“I had already started thinking. I had a bus ticket at the Greyhound bus station in downtown Knoxville,” Martin admitted.
He told most of his family he was heading home, with one exception. “Not my mom, because she didn't want me to come home and not stay at Tennessee.”
He said he even had bags packed and was downtown at the station, ready to walk away from the program that would eventually help deliver a national championship.
That exit never happened because people close to him stepped in.
“Coach Pat Washington, who recruited me, got a hold of me. I don't know how he found out I was there, but he found out and came and talked to me,” Martin said. “And a couple of my teammates came over to the dorm and talked to me, and I ended up staying.”
Martin said that season tested him. “That was a rough year because I wanted to play.
I felt like I was ready to play,” he said. He made clear the frustration wasn’t aimed at Manning.
“It was nothing against Peyton coming back. He was great for us the following year.”
The issue was his own timing. “But I was being selfish in the moment where I thought I was ready to play.
I thought it was my time, and I had to wait a little longer.”
That delay ended up shaping the quarterback Tennessee needed in 1998.
By the time Manning moved on and the job belonged to Martin, he had already spent two extra seasons learning the offense from the sideline. He wasn’t thrown into the role cold. He had been waiting, and preparing, the whole time.
In the end, Martin’s story isn’t just about his arm or even his patience. It’s about the people who kept him in Knoxville - Pat Washington, the teammates who tracked him down in the dorm, and his mother, who wasn’t willing to let him quit. Without any one of them, Tennessee’s 1998 quarterback situation could have looked very different.
Martin wanted his chance on his own schedule. Instead, the wait became part of the job, and the job became a national championship, a career, and a story he still laughs about years later because it worked out exactly the way it was supposed to.
In Other News...
Tennessee Has An Unexpected Name Entering The Heisman Conversation
Freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon has quickly become the most unexpected Tennessee name showing up in the early Heisman conversation, a reflection of how much attention can attach to a young player even before the season really settles in. Brandon is the Vols player sitting atop the betting odds board for the award, with backup quarterback George MacIntyre and running back DeSean Bishop also hanging around the contender mix as Tennessees offense continues to draw interest.
There has even been some broader recognition beyond the quarterback room, with defensive tackle Xavier Gilliam earning an honorable mention from ESPNs Bill Connelly for his work in Tennessees win over Furman. The next chance for the Vols to build on all of that comes against Georgia Tech, a matchup set for ESPN that will offer another early test of how real this buzz around Tennessee might be. [Read more 🡒]
Tennessee's Georgia Tech Trip Comes With A Personal Sideline Twist
Tennessees trip to Bobby Dodd Stadium brings more than just a rare nonconference meeting with Georgia Tech. It will be the Volunteers first game there in 40 years, a notable enough backdrop on its own, but it also puts wide receivers coach Kelsey Pope on one sideline and his brother, Kyle Pope, on the other.
Kyle Pope has been on Georgia Techs staff since 2024 and has built a coaching rsum that includes stops at Memphis, Liberty and Alabama. For Tennessee, it adds a personal layer to a game that already carries some history, with the Popes spending the week in opposing meeting rooms before sharing the same field in Atlanta. [Read more 🡒]
Tennessee Suddenly Has A Receiver Depth Problem Behind Braylon Staley
Tennessees receiving room took another hit in the opener against Furman, and the loss of Joakim Dodson only deepened the early strain on a group already trying to settle in around Braylon Staley. Dodsons right leg injury ended his season before it really started, and it arrived as the fourth season-ending injury for the Vols this early in 2026, a reminder of how quickly depth can vanish in a hurry.
That leaves freshman Tyreek King in line for a much larger backup role behind Staley than Tennessee likely imagined when the season opened. King came to Knoxville in May 2026 after committing in 2024, and the former four-star recruit now has an immediate chance to accelerate his development because the Vols do not have many easy answers at receiver. [Read more 🡒]