Peyton Manning on recruiting: 'If I get hurt the first day, would I be happy in the school?'

Peyton Manning was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2017, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021. He won the Maxwell Award in 1997 and finished as the runner-up to Michigan’s Charles Woodson for the Heisman Trophy.

But before all of that, Manning had a decision to make. Follow his father and brother to Ole Miss? Or look elsewhere.

Manning looked elsewhere. He committed to Tennessee on Jan. 25, 1994 after considering the Rebels.

This week on the show ‘Bussin’ With The Boys,’ Manning broke down his recruitment beginning with his junior year of high school. Manning said that despite growing up in New Orleans under the umbrella of LSU football, he and his family of course attended Ole Miss football games on Saturday instead of the in-state Tigers. Manning’s father, Archie, was an All-America quarterback at Ole Miss.

Manning said that he “didn’t know how serious [his recruitment] was” until he received a handwritten letter from Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden telling Manning that he would like to recruit him to Tallahassee.

From there, things got more serious.

Manning took a visit to Knoxville — in the snow — and liked what he saw.

“I had a great visit here to Tennessee,” Manning said. “It was snowing, didn’t get to really see the stadium in its glorious view, but met a lot of good people.”

Peyton’s brother, Cooper, had joined the Ole Miss football team on scholarship but ultimately could not play due to a neck injury. Peyton said that considering life without football was paramount in choosing a school.

“My brother, Cooper, went to Ole Miss on scholarship — had a neck injury and had to stop playing, and he was in the right school for him if football didn’t work out. That’s kind of when I said, ‘That’s really how your should choose a school.’ If I get hurt the first day, would I be happy in the school? And that’s kind of how I felt about it here at Tennessee.”

Manning said that it was a difficult decision to go against the family history at Ole Miss, but that what mattered was what he made of that decision at Tennessee.

“I think when you make those decisions, you kind of make it the right decision after the fact by just going all-in and not looking back,” Manning said. “So it was a hard decision, but I appreciate my parents supporting me in it.”