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

Marcus Nash is one of the most prolific wide receivers in the history of Tennessee football, in large part due to the fact that he got to play with the great Peyton Manning for most of his career. In fact, he and Joey Kent are atop the record books in Volunteers history with Kent actually edging out Nash in many categories. However, Nash gets the nod for this list thanks to his draft positioning.

Nash didn’t make much noise as a freshman at Tennessee as he had only five receptions for 77 yards. The next year, however, he had a breakout campaign as he caught 43 balls for 512 yards and four touchdowns, proving to be a much bigger part of the offense. That continued the next season as he had 53 receptions for 688 yards and three scores.

It was in his final season in Knoxville, however, when he put up by far his best season in college football. He caught 76 passes for 1,170 yards and 13 touchdowns on the season. That yardage mark was a school record at the time and the touchdown mark still stands as the record at Tennessee. And the wide receiver’s pedigree got him drafted early on.

Unlike Kent, who fell to the second round in his draft class, Nash was a first-round pick (No. 30) by the Denver Broncos in the 1998 NFL Draft. However, he played in only 10 games with the Broncos in his career and registered just four receptions for 76 yards. He bounced around with two other teams before ending up in the Arena Football League. In terms of the NFL, though, his career was as if it never happened given how little he did.