Tennessee's seniors get happy ending at home

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee's fifth-year seniors have been around for some of the Volunteers' toughest seasons in recent history.

That's why when defensive tackle Wes Brown grabbed an interception and took it to the end zone in the closing seconds of a 31-16 win over Vanderbilt, the seniors' last game in Neyland Stadium, the rest of the elder Volunteers had to celebrate.

"I had to go dive on top of him," linebacker Rico McCoy said. "It was fitting for him. His ending here was perfect."

Brown intercepted MacKenzi Adams' pass and ran it 25 yards, carrying Vanderbilt's Warren Norman on his back for the last 5. With 3 seconds left, his teammates piled on top of him in the end zone and then gathered around him on the sideline as Brown grinned and fought back tears.

The senior from Athens, Ala., grew up a dedicated Tennessee fan and has suffered through painful knee injuries in order to play.

"You can't have a guy who has worked harder and gone through more," coach Lane Kiffin said. "He can barely make it through practice from drill to drill, so to see him just shows if you want something bad enough it can happen."

Having gotten a win in their final home game, the seniors still have a few more things to play for. The Vols (6-5, 3-4 Southeastern Conference) earned bowl eligibility with the win over Vanderbilt.

They also have a shot of maintaining the Football Bowl Subdivision's longest active winning streak by one team over another when they face Kentucky (7-4, 3-4) on Saturday. The Wildcats have not beat them since 1984.

Several of Tennessee's seniors redshirted in 2005, a season that started with a No. 3 preseason ranking but finished with a 5-6 record, leaving team morale in shambles.

The seniors made it through two successful seasons with finishes of 9-4 in 2006 and 10-4 in 2007 and a trip to the 2007 SEC championship game.

Last season was another bust with a 5-7 finish that cost coach Phillip Fulmer his job.

"They say football prepares guys for life, life's struggles and life's hardships," McCoy said. "With this class, I think me and these guys should be prepared for life's lessons to come. It shows the roller coaster life can be sometimes."

The senior class may also be paving the way for future success at Tennessee thanks to its dramatic improvement under their new coaching staff.

Tackle Chris Scott, who earned SEC offensive lineman of the week honors early this season, has led an offensive line that has allowed only 11 sacks so far.

Jonathan Crompton has turned into one of the SEC's leading passing quarterbacks after being prone to interceptions last season and early this year.

Tailback Montario Hardesty surpassed 1,000 season yards rushing for the first time and had a career-high 171 yards against Vanderbilt.

And at the start of the season, defensive tackle Dan Williams was projected as an NFL free agent at best upon graduating. Now some analysts have pegged him as a possible first-round pick after many teammates and opponents have dubbed him unblockable.

"We can use that as a developmental part of the system to show people it doesn't take you two years in this system to begin playing well," Kiffin said. "You can show freshmen or a junior college player that here is someone in the first year of our program having that success and improving their draft status."

But for someone like Brown, who won't have a shot at playing at the next level because of his perpetually injured knees, just going out with a win at home was enough.

Scoring a touchdown along the way? That was a bonus.

"Just getting a win means everything, but to be able to finish like that — I'm blessed," he said.