Tennessee football: 5 most underrated players in Tennessee Volunteers history

Robert Meachem put up big numbers for Tennessee football.

Tennessee has had some incredible receivers over the years. For some reason, we don’t give Robert Meachem the love we probably should. After redshirting in 2003, Meachem gave the Vols three quality years, including a tremendous redshirt junior season in 2006. This was the first year former offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe was back in Knoxville before leaving for the Duke job.

Meachem had 71 catches for 1,298 yards and 11 touchdowns that season in 13 games. This helped him earn a spot on the All-SEC First Team as well as a First-Team All-American nod. Meachem left the Tennessee program after his redshirt junior season with 125 catches for 2,140 yards and 17 touchdowns. He’d be a first-round pick by the New Orleans Saints in 2007.

Meachem spent eight years in the NFL, seven of them with the Saints over two stints. Though never a Pro Bowler or anything more than a No. 2 wide receiver in the New Orleans offense, Meachem was part of the Super Bowl championship team in 2009 as a third-year player in the league. He last played in the NFL for the 2014 Saints.

Some may label Meachem a one-year wonder for the Vols, being propped up by the offensive brilliance of Coach Cutcliffe. However, he was still an instrumental part of the last few years of the Phillip Fulmer of Volunteers football. What came after the disastrous 2008 NCAA season was only the beginning of Tennessee’s problems the Vols look to be finally getting out from under.