It wasn’t the best moment of the University of Tennessee’s 2022 football season.
It was just the most honest.
Minutes after the No. 3 Volunteers hammered No. 19 Kentucky 44-6 inside a decked-in-black Neyland Stadium on Oct. 29 to improve to 8-0, Tennessee junior defensive back Doneiko Slaughter was asked if he was surprised how far the program had come in such a short time.
“Yes,” Slaughter responded. “Yes, I am.”
Quarterback Hendon Hooker, defensive back Brandon Turnage and edge rusher Byron Young were sitting alongside Slaughter in that news conference and started laughing, but three nights later, the Vols were at the top of the sport as the No. 1 team in the College Football Playoff rankings.