For the second time, Tennessee will host 'Champions Weekend' where members of SEC and NCAA Championship winning teams will be invited back to Knoxville to be honored.
During the football game against South Carolina on Saturday, individuals and teams that won titles 10, 20, 25, 30, 40 and 50 years ago will be recognized.
The 25-year anniversary lines up with the 1998 season that featured NCAA championships in both football and women's basketball.
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In attendance will be head coach Phillip Fulmer and members of the team.
“It’s special to have an opportunity to have all those guys back here," said head coach Josh Heupel. "Coach Fulmer and those guys have an opportunity to remember and tell a bunch of stories on Friday night. I think they’ve got a social gathering and then, obviously, for everybody that’s in the stadium and those watching, from Vol nation, an opportunity to remember and look back on that special season and those guys, too. They’re a huge part of our history, our tradition. It’s been fun for me over the last two-and-a-half years getting to know all of those guys. It’s a special group. They’re still extremely close. It should be a really fun weekend for those guys here Friday and Saturday.”
While Heupel is of a similar age as the returning members of the team, he is familiar with a handful of the players.
However, not necessarily from his playing days.
“I probably wasn’t as highly recruited as most of those guys were, so a little bit different," said Heupel. "But the ‘98 group, know of them. Knew a couple of them, but for me it’s been awesome just because, as you’re playing college football, you know who all those guys are, so getting an opportunity to know them. Al Wilson’s celebration, College Football Hall of Fame, a bunch of those guys were all back. Got a chance to spend time with them in the spring and then get a chance to see some of those that I hadn’t met when they came back for his event during the course of the season, as well. Those guys are hugely important to our program, in the past and in the present, too. Those guys still live in our footprint and are a part of our recruiting, too. It’s been fun to get to know those guys.”
Who will be honored?
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