[Patrick] On January 1, 1997, Peyton Manning threw for 408 yards
and 4 touchdowns in a Citrus Bowl win over Northwestern,
perhaps the best game of his career at that point.
As the final seconds ticked down, the fans chanted,
"One more year! One more year!"
And on March 5, 1997, Peyton delivered.
[Music]
[Announcer] Who's ever get predestined for stardom,
it was this guy right here throwing the football.
[Bob] College football to him was very special,
playing college football was special.
[Announcer] Straight ahead, he didn't go down so he rolls out of the pocket.
[David] I mean, he was so good that year.
It was just almost incredible.
[Announcer] Good heavens, there's another one for the highlight reel.
[Cheering]
[David] I was happy to have won the game,
but the biggest thing I'm wondering right there,
"Is that the last time he's ever gonna sing Rocky Top?"
[Music continues]
[Peyton] I made up my mind, and I don't expect to ever look back.
[Music continues]
[Man] Will Peyton stay for his senior year at Tennessee?
Or is he gonna move on to millions of NFL dollars?
[Peyton] I basically discovered the summer before my junior year
that if I was on pace to graduate in three years
that I did not have to decide right after the bowl game.
I had up until a month before the draft.
It's a small little loophole.
So my junior fall, I took 18 hours,
and my junior spring, I signed up for 22 hours.
And so I was on pace to graduate.
[David] I knew he was going to evaluate it.
I knew it would be evaluated thoroughly.
[Peyton] My dad kind of made me a list of people that might
shed some light one way or the other and help me make a decision.
I knew, in the end, it was going to be my decision
so I talked to some quarterbacks that had stayed and had left.
Troy Aikman had stayed for his senior year.
Drew Bledsoe had left after his junior year.
Got a little pros and cons from each of those guys.
Tim Duncan, a great NBA basketball player,
had just recently, the year before, decided to stay for his senior year.
And I had a chance to visit with him at a basketball game
and just got good advice from him.
I talked to Michael Jordan,
which not to name drop but I guess I am,
who left as a junior.
And so, just trying to get different, you know, pieces of advice
and seeing if there was any common thread amongst all of them.
[David] I had enough input from the National Football League.
I knew he would be the first player taken, if he would have come out.
[Phillip] Most of us, me included,
assumed that Peyton's going to be the first quarterback picked
and that he would go out, you know?
And that's what people do most of the time.
[David] I prepared immediately.
I just viewed it as, "He's out of here."
[Peyton] So, basically, I play in this bowl game.
We have a really good game.
I go home to New Orleans.
I'm away from campus, away from my teammates.
I pretty much thought that I was leaving.
I said, "I'm gonna go."
"I'm gonna turn pro in the NFL."
I wasn't around the college experience.
[David] The Atlanta Falcons were really doing a great job of running the football.
Took the whole offensive staff to Atlanta.
And I said, "That's it. We're going down here."
They were using receivers to block support,
and it was kind of new in that era.
And we were...I was so excited,
trying to be so excited about the new run game at Tennessee post-Peyton.
[Peyton] I get back to college after our Christmas break.
I'm back in school.
I'm working out with the team.
My coach doesn't know, "Are you gonna play quarterback for us next year or not?"
I go on spring break with my friends.
I'm around college,
and now, my decision starts kind of turning the other way,
like, "Wow, this is special, and I'm not sure I want to leave this so fast."
I'm enjoying the college experience.
But that timing of when I had to make my decision
had a lot to do with me staying, for sure.
[Bob on TV] Tennessee fans that will keep their fingers and toes
and anything else they can cross crossed,
hoping that Peyton Manning will announce he's coming back
for his senior season at Tennessee.
The Volunteer's all-star quarterback has called a 1:30 press conference
to talk about his future.
[Bob] Of course, once they called the press conference,
then all the speculation and the rumors and all that stuff started.
Everybody had their own philosophy and thinking about what he was gonna do.
But when it came down to it, there was only one person that really knew
and that was Peyton.
[Truck drives by]
[Peyton] And so Litton's is obviously, was one of my favorite places to eat.
My parents always went to Litton's when they came up for games.
And so had dinner at Litton's with my parents
and some great friends that they had made
during their time up there coming to games in Knoxville.
And, of course, everybody there was...
didn't really want to ask the question, the elephant in the room.
But I had a green golf shirt on.
And I remember, I think it was the late Bobby Denton,
who, of course, was the voice of the pregame show for Tennessee games,
said, "Yep, he's wearing a green shirt. That's the New York Jets."
"And that means he's taking the money. He's going to the NFL."
So that shirt selection, obviously, gave them the indication that I was turning pro.
I, you know, it was never my goal
to create any kind of drama, if you will.
At the same time,
because I knew it was going to be good news for the majority of people,
I was okay with it.
[David] Couple of guys were keeping me posted.
He wants 10 NFL balls to throw.
I'm losing my mind, you know.
And then, I've been down there, we were there the second night
and I get a call at 1 a.m. from Peyton.
And so, you know, he's not going to call and, I mean, that it's over with.
And in that call, he starts sounding really sad
and he says, "Well, I just wanted you to know I got a press conference tomorrow morning at 10."
"And I'm coming back for my senior year."
I woke up every coach.
I said, "Come on, we're going back to Knoxville right now."
I wasn't gonna let him change his mind.
We loaded up the car,
left Atlanta at 2 a.m.,
arrived into Knoxville about 5-5:30,
went straight to the complex.
As soon as I saw him, I stayed with him until his press conference was over.
[Bob on TV] There have been some stories on the wire tonight
that say Peyton is leaning towards staying at Tennessee.
However, there are other people that will tell you he's gonna go.
[Bob] I had no idea until right before the press conference.
And there was kind of a murmur going through,
and there was one person I trusted came up to me and said, "He's staying."
[Peyton] I made up my mind, and I don't expect to ever look back.
I'm going to stay at the University of Tennessee.
[cheering]
[Peyton] I really, to this day, I say to anybody that knows me,
Do you think I would call a press conference on campus
and invite teammates, coaches, family
and get up there and go,
"I'm out of here."
"I'm going to the league."
"See y'all later."
"Thanks for three years."
"I'm going to New York."
I mean, that's just not how I would have done it.
And I think, at the end of the day,
what I didn't want is to be 50 years old and wonder,
"What would my senior year of college have been like?"
And I also felt like my first three years, I was always rushing.
I was running to class.
I was running to practice.
Running to do an interview.
Eating lunch in five minutes.
Just always in a hurry.
I kind of wanted one year to sort of slow things down a little bit.
In my senior year, I took nine hours of graduate school classes,
didn't exactly kill myself.
I was able to, you know, have more time
to spend with friends and teachers and,
you know, academic people, support staff people.
Focus on football.
[David] My trust of him being able to take everything to the next level...
Oh, I mean, he was so good that year.
It was just almost incredible.
[Peyton] All I have to say is SEC champs!
Somebody give me a hat!
[Peyton] Without a doubt, to this day,
one of the best decisions that I've ever made in my life.
It just created a bond with me and people in Tennessee,
from Memphis all the way to Johnson City,
and just a real connection there.
And to this day, I still get people that thank me,
thank me for staying.
And it means a lot because it was more than just about football.
There was a commitment to the University of Tennessee
to, really, to the state of Tennessee.
That statement to stay for my senior year
and sort of postpone the NFL for another year
meant a lot to the people in Tennessee.
And as a result, it's meant a lot to me,
the way people have embraced me since then,
and I always have that bond.
I said it's great to be a Tennessee Vol!