Greg McElroy says Alabama plays 'Rocky Top' in weight room during Tennessee game week

Any SEC football fan is familiar with Rocky Top, an anthem and staple played repeatedly at Tennessee football games in Neyland Stadium. Former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy is also familiar with Rocky Top from his playing career and beyond, and on his ‘Always College Football’ podcast he revealed an interesting fact about the song as it relates to the Crimson Tide.

“Rocky Top. When you play Tennessee, and when we played Tennessee, the weight room the entire week you were going into the weight room to workout you’re listening to Rocky Top on repeat,” McElroy said.

McElroy was listing the 35 things that make college football great on his podcast and listed Rocky Top as one of them, which is now surprising to hear given how much he had to hear the song during his playing days leading up to a game versus the Volunteers.

“It’s the only song that was played in the entire building for a six-day period. From Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, you didn’t lift on Friday some of the guys did we didn’t, you’re listening to Rocky Top on repeat,” McElroy said. “You can’t get your workout done fast enough.”

Teams often play crowd noise at practice or use other strategies to give themselves an edge and familiarize themselves with their road game environment. And if you want to get accustomed to playing on the road in Neyland Stadium, you better get used to hearing Rocky Top plenty of times.

On any given Tennessee home game you can hear Rocky Top upwards of 40 to 50 times, a tradition that’s been going on since 1972 when it was first played. The song was written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant in 1967 and was first recorded by the Osborne Brothers. But once the song was debuted by Tennessee’s “Pride of the Southland Band” at halftime of the Volunteers’ 1972 matchup versus the Crimson Tide, the rest was history.

“But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to realize and appreciate just how often they play that song. Of course it started being played there in Neyland Stadium back in the 1970s and it’s really cool to be a part of it, especially as Tennessee is starting to get rolling again,” McElroy admitted.

Tennessee is rolling again, coming off of their first 11-win season last year since 2001 and their first win over Alabama on the third Saturday in October since 2006. The Vols may have this year’s bragging rights, but they will not hear Rocky Top when they face the Crimson Tide this season in Bryant-Denny Stadium instead of Neyland.