Best Position Players in UT history - DL

I wish Harrell had been able to play his entire second year. Beast, and massive testicles to boot

 

There was Matt McGlothlin, and there is everyone else

 

Jeff Tullis

 

Good grief lol

 

Best in my lifetime: John Henderson

Best in their prime: JT Mapu and Billy Ratliff

Interior DLs that were as good as anyone in the country...

- Mark Hovanic
- Shazzon Bradley
- jimmy Noonan

 

Not that I think he should be on the list but who was the Canadian guy from back in the day? Late 80s or early 90s? Just can’t think of his name

 

Paul Yatkowski?

 

Paul Yatkowski

 

He was no Constantin Ritzmann

 

Yasss

 

I cheated a little, but when I started to look back, I had forgotten some of the names and how dominant we were on the DL for a good while. Tons of nfl players. Then as you keep looking year after year, the number of nfl players on that side of the ball seemed to decline year after year after year. Names like: Ritzmann, Will Overstreet. Hobby, Hayworth, KC, Hardy, Mims, Chuck Smith, Ben Talley, Johnathon Brown, Shane Burton, Bonham, Corey Terry, Omari Hand, Parys, Rashad Moore, Mondre, Harrell, Turk, Ayers, Tony McDaniel, malik jackson

 

Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in years.

 

Anyone remember the name of the highly rated d lineman who drowned in the Gulf of Mexico before ever stepping foot on campus? Would have been the early 90s. A guy that I met through business that is a huge UT fan told me about him but he couldn’t remember his name.

 

Zenon

 

He was supposed to be in the '93 class I believe. Was a Louisiana guy who got caught in a rip tide on his senior trip.

 

yep. Ivan Zenon. Incredible football name

 

Panama City has claimed several promising young athletes on senior trip. Ivan Zenon is who I immediately thought of when hearing of ND commit Matt James several years ago. Obviously it was completely different circumstances but still, we've all been young before.

 

Well ‘93 explains it then. I still have all the preseason magazines from 94-05 and didn’t find anyone who would have passed away before getting to campus.

 

Yep. USC had a recruit in the early ‘00s named Drean Rucker who also drowned in the ocean a couple of months before he was set to start college.

 

There's a short tribute to him on a Tennessee preseason vid highlighting the recruiting class of that year on YT. I'll try to find it. I think Larry uploaded it.