Tennessee will open its 2024 campaign against Chattanooga at Neyland Stadium on Aug. 31.
In anticipation of the season opener, VolReport is highlighting a former Vols player whose jersey number matches the amount of days until kickoff.
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With 81 days to go, Tennessee wide receiver Alvin Harper, who was a All-SEC player on the Vols' 1990 SEC Championship team, is selected.
Harper doubled as a track and field and All-American football star at Frostproof High School in Florida before inking with the Vols in 1987.
A four-year letterman, Harper flashed his track speed in Tennessee's offense, totaling 103 receptions for 1,547 yards and 16 touchdowns while playing in a wide receiving room laden with talent for much of his college career.
His 16 scores rank 12th among receivers all-time in program history.
Harper's most productive season came as a senior in 1990. He caught 37 passes for 567 yards and eight touchdowns, averaging 15.3 yards per catch during the Vols' conference title and Sugar Bowl run that year.
Outside of football, Harper won the SEC Championship in the high jump and competed in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays for the Tennessee Track and Field team in 1989.
Harper had a decade-long pro football career, beginning with the Dallas Cowboys, who selected him as the 12th overall pick in the first round of the 1991 NFL Draft.
In four seasons with the Cowboys, Harper was a contributor on two Super Bowl-winning teams, catching a 45-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Troy Aikman in a 52-17 win over the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVII.
Harper spent two season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a combined one season with both the Washington Redskins and New Orleans Saints before returning to Dallas in 1999.
In nine seasons in the NFL, Harper accounted for 191 catches for 3,473 yards and 21 touchdowns.
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