Tennessee football: 5 former Vols greats who didn’t live up to the NFL hype

When Charles McRae initially arrived at Tennessee under head coach Ken Donahue, he was listed as a defensive lineman. However, when Phil Fullmer got a hold of him, he switched him to an offensive tackle. And it was there where the big man was able to establish himself as one of the dominant forces in college football in the late 1980s and in 1990.

Over McRae’s final two seasons, the Volunteers went 20-3-2 and picked up wins in both the Cotton Bowl and Sugar Bowl. His presence on the offensive line was a critical reason as to why. He was an All-SEC performer in the trenches and garnered a ton of buzz that he could be a franchise offensive tackle at the next level given his performance and intellectual prowess as an All-Academic SEC honoree as well.

Mcrae was ultimately selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the No. 7 overall pick in the 1991 NFL Draft (teammate Antone Davis went with the pick right after and busted himself). And that selection has gone down as one of the worst in Bucs franchise history as McRae was never able to find the same level of success that he did in college.

Despite his draft billing, McRae could never find his niche in the NFL. He started at right tackle for the entire 1992 season but struggled and was demoted the following year. Tampa then tried him at guard the next season, yet the issues with his performance continued. He signed with the Oakland Raiders in 1996 but that was the final stop in his NFL career.