Family.
That was the word that players and coaches on the 1997 Southeastern Conference champion Tennessee football team used to describe the bond they had.
"Absolutely. Nothing but family," defensive back Fred White from that team said Friday. "I always tell people, though, that it didn't start in '97. It started before then. It started in '95 when I first got here. The older guys just showed us what it really meant to be a Tennessee Volunteer."
The 1997 Vols team will be recognized during tonight's game against LSU for the 20th anniversary of their 30-29 victory over Auburn in the SEC championship game.
The Vols brought in an impressive freshman class of Jamal Lewis, Deion Grant, Cosey Coleman and more. However, it was the senior leadership of quarterback Peyton Manning and defender Leonard Little that really set the tone.
"I know with me and Jamal (Lewis), Leonard and Peyton came in our dorm room and told us exactly what they expect out of us," Grant said. " They just told us the role we needed to play, how we need to follow and the mentality of the Volunteer defense and offense."
The 1997 Vols took a hit early on as they lost to Florida for the fifth consecutive year, but that just motivated them even more.
"It was easy (to stay motivated), because we were mad after that game," Little said. "We were ready to come back and play again because it was a thorn in our side. But we just put our heads down and worked the rest of the year, and things happened."
The main controversy for the Vols that season came at the end of the year when Michigan defensive back and occasional receiver Charles Woodson edged Manning for the Heisman Trophy. Former Vols coach Phillip Fulmer is still not sure how that happened.
"Everybody around us thinks he should have won it," Fulmer said. "He had the numbers; the end of the season he threw for five touchdowns against Kentucky and a ton of yards. So whatever reasons it didn't happen, it didn't happen, and none of them are legitimate to convince me. He should have won it."
The Vols reached that SEC championship game against Auburn but came out flat against the Tigers. The Vols fell behind 20-10 by halftime, and their title prospects looked gloomy.
Then linebacker Al Wilson took matters into his own hands.
Each Vol who spoke Friday night mentioned Wilson's halftime speech, which he said his mother "probably wouldn't have been happy at me for."
"We weren't expecting to be down at the half," White said. "We had played really bad. Going into the locker room, I remember Peyton saying something and then all of a sudden the legend of Al Wilson was born. He stood up on a chair in the middle of the room and gave us the business.
"And the last thing I remember him saying was 'If you come out of this locker room and I look in your eyes and don't see it, I'm sending you back in.'"
The Vols finished that season with the SEC title and an 11-2 record, setting them up for their national-title run the next year.
Contact Rob Harvey at sports@timesfreepress.com.