Peyton Manning reveals he attempted to recruit Paul Skenes to Tennessee

It’s hard to envision a better first season at LSU for Paul Skenes after transferring from Air Force. He broke the SEC’s strikeout record Thursday night as he sent the Tigers to the College World Series Finals, where they’ll face Florida.

LSU wasn’t the only SEC team to target Skenes in the transfer portal, though. Tennessee was also in on him, and he got a call from one of the most famous Volunteers ever on his visit when Peyton Manning tried to sell him on the university.

Suffice to say, Skenes wasn’t sold.

“I’m disappointed. Paul visited Tennessee. I actually called him on his visit. Evidently, I just didn’t do a good enough job landing the deal,” Manning said at the Manning Passing Academy. “I used to have a pretty good closing rate as a recruiter, more on the football side.”

As for what he said during their conversation, the Pro Football Hall of Famer said it didn’t make sense to share it considering Skenes wound up in Baton Rouge instead of on Rocky Top.

“Well, it’s obviously not worth repeating,” Manning said of his pitch. “It wasn’t very good.”

Of course, Tennessee fans got to see Skenes’ skills first-hand in Omaha during the College World Series. The Tigers defeated the Vols 6-3 as Skenes threw 7.2 innings and struck out 12 to help LSU advance. Manning was in attendance for that game.

Later in the CWS, Skenes made history with his 203rd strikeout of the season in LSU’s thrilling victory over Wake Forest June 22. That took him past Ben McDonald for the SEC’s all-time strikeout record, and the Tigers great sounded more than happy about who set the new mark during an interview on SiriusXM College.

“What makes it easier for me is it’s an LSU guy that’s doing it,” said McDonald, who’s now the TV color commentator for the Baltimore Orioles. “It stays in the family. … I don’t know if we’re going to see another Paul Skenes. It held for 34 years. It may be another 34 years or so before that record’s even approached again. I’m happy for Paul.

“Look, if it had to go down, I’m glad it went down A, to an LSU kid, B, to a kid like Paul Skenes, who — it’s almost too good to be real, if you will. It’s a military dude that respects the game, that respects his country, that appreciates the red, white and blue. Says he’s going to go back to the Air Force when his baseball career is over. He wants to serve in some capacity. He’s just a first-class, top-notch dude. And all those things make it a lot easier to swallow.”