AL.com is counting down to the 2017 SEC football season on Sept. 2 by presenting the No. 1 player to wear each number 1 through 99 in the conference's history. There are 16 days until the first Saturday of the SEC football season, and the No. 1 16 is Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning.
Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning became eligible for the College Football Hall of Fame with the Class of 2017. He'll be inducted with the rest of that class on Dec. 5 at the National Football Foundation's annual awards dinner in New York.
As a first-ballot selection, Manning became the second SEC player who was on the field in the 1990s to reach the College Football Hall of Fame, joining Florida quarterback Danny Wuerffel.
Manning was the SEC Player of the Year in 1997, when he led the Volunteers to the conference championship.
Manning also won the Maxwell Award as college football's best all-around player and the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award as the nation's top QB, received unanimous All-American recognition, earned the Campbell Trophy as college football's top scholar-athlete and finished as the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy that season.
When Manning left Tennessee as the first player picked in the 1998 NFL Draft, he held the SEC single-season record for most yards of total offense and conference career records for completions, passing yards and total offense.
Manning went on to become a five-time NFL MVP and set league records for career passing yards and touchdown passes.
Runner-up at No. 16: Georgia safety Lynn Hughes
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