Tennessee’s Prentiss Waggner, left, and Herman Lathers, right, celebrate after a play at Neyland Stadium.KNOXVILLE — Prentiss Waggner signed to play football at Tennessee nearly five years and three head coaches ago.
Saturday, his long and winding Volunteers career will reach the finish line.
The cornerback is one of eight fifth-year seniors who saw the program part ways with longtime, championship-winning coach Phillip Fulmer, watched Lane Kiffin bolt to Southern California on a mid-January night and endured three losing seasons under the now ousted Derek Dooley.
“It’s been a rocky road,” Waggner said Tuesday morning after practice. “I remember coming in here up under Coach Fulmer. When I thought of Tennessee, I thought of a place of consistency.
“When I came here in 2008, I think Tennessee had just come off an SEC championship [appearance] against LSU. I was stoked about coming here. But I don’t regret anything. I made brothers, I made a lot of friends that I’m going to have for a lifetime and I don’t pretty much regret nothing about it.”