Tennessee football: Players who wore No. 46

Tennessee football: Players who wore No. 46

KNOXVILLE — The University of Tennessee has a proud football program rich in tradition and history, and over the years many great players have played on Rocky Top.

Vols Wire looks at which players wore each jersey number for the Volunteers.

No. 46

The number goes back to 1937 in UT football history and was first worn by Douglas Hereford, who played center for the Volunteers and sported the number for one season.

It was later worn by nose tackle John Chavis.

Chavis entered the Tennessee program as a walk-on in 1976 when Bill Battle was head coach. He later played for Johnny Majors and served as a defensive coordinator at Tennessee after his playing days were over.

Chavis began his coaching career with the Vols as a graduate assistant in 1979 under Majors.

He later went to Alabama A&M where he served as defensive line coach from 1980-83. The former Vol was Alabama State’s defensive coordinator from 1984-85 before returning to Alabama A&M to coach its defense.

Chavis returned to Knoxville in 1989 and coached the linebackers and defensive line for the Vols.

In 1995 he was promoted to defensive coordinator by head coach Phillip Fulmer. He retained his duties overseeing linebackers. He left UT after the 2008 season when Fulmer was fired.

He has been all over the SEC since, coaching at LSU, Texas A&M and Arkansas.

All-time players to wear No. 46 at Tennessee:

Douglas Hereford (1937)

Clay Whitehead (1938)

Elwood Powers (1939-40)

Denver Crawford (1942, 1946-47)

Warren Dickson (1944)

Dave Markloff (1949-1950)

John “Tex” Davis (1951-52)

Tommy Hall (1964)

Manley Mixon (1968-70)

David Poley (1972-74)

Lyonel Stewart (1975)

Robert Malone (1976)

John Chavis (1977-78)

Johnny Williams (1981-83)

Jesse Messimer (1985-86)

Stanley Jones (1987)

Eric Riffer (1988-91)

John Emery (1993-95)

Jeremy Fitzgerald (1996)

Raynoch Thompson (1997-99)

Andrew Crossley (2003)

Karlton Neal (2001-04)

Andre Mathis (2006-09)

Channing Fugate (2010-12)

Max Arnold (2013-15)

Logan Cavendar (2013)

Riley Livengood (2015-19)

DaJour Maddox (2016)

Joshua Warren (2018)

Carson Miller (2019)

*Source: 2019 Tennessee Football Media Guide