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Josh Heupel addresses Tennessee's special opportunity to honor Condredge Holloway

Screen Shot 2024-05-28 at 9.09.17 AMby:Kaiden Smith•09/04/23•

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Malcolm Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Tennessee hasn’t played a game at home in Neyland Stadium since they faced Missouri last year on November 12, and their return to Rocky Top this season will be highlighted by recognizing one of the all-time Volunteer greats.

“Saturday’s a unique opportunity celebrating the 51-year anniversary of Condredge Holloway, first black quarterback in this league,” head coach Josh Heupel said on Monday. “Pretty special opportunity to honor a great legacy, somebody that meant so much through who he is, his character, how he handled himself here, and post-playing career as well and the legacy he’s left behind.”

Nicknamed the ‘Artful Dodger’, Holloway was one of the first African-American quarterbacks to receive national exposure and the first to start at the position in the SEC.

His impact on the sport would be hard to quantify, as he paved the way for numerous other black quarterbacks in the SEC and beyond. But his impact on the field can be, as he led the Volunteers to a 25-9-2 record in his career behind his 3,102 yards and 18 touchdowns in the air and 966 yards and nine touchdowns on the ground.

Holloway was also a baseball standout, selected with the No. 4 overall in the 1971 MLB Draft by the Montreal Expos out of high school. He turned down the opportunity to get his education and be a student-athlete at Tennessee, where he also became the first black baseball player in school history.

“Like all the guys that have statues and are honored outside of our stadium, it’s an awesome way to honor their legacy,” Heupel said. “The Smokey Greys will be worn in a pattern that was similar to the uniform that he wore while he was here. Smokies are something that our players and recruits get excited about, and hopefully our fan base does too.”

To honor Holloway, Tennessee will be remixing a classic uniform when they take on Austin Peay this weekend. The Volunteers Smokey Grey alternate uniforms are wildly popular in the college football landscape, which they will be pairing with the pattern of the team’s uniforms from the early 1970s that Holloway used to sport in his playing days.

The Volunteers unveiled the uniforms in a special way, releasing a video featuring Holloway and current quarterback Joe Milton. Like Holloway, Milton is an African-American quarterback wearing No. 7 for the Volunteers, a direct result of Holloway breaking the quarterback color barrier in the Southeastern Conference 51 years ago.

The Volunteers can be seen in action this Saturday in their stylish threads as they take on Austin Peay at 5:00 p.m. ET.