How Legends Are Born

“It’s a wonderful story,” Lane Kiffin announced, and the way the Tennessee coach told it, it was.

After playing two dissatisfactory kickers, who combined had three field goals in a row blocked, the Vols were in a powerful hurt. Fortunately, former UT kicker and current staff member James Wilhoit remembered former walk-on Devin Mathis.

Mathis had spent the Spring semester studying in Mexico. Upon his return to Knoxville, he eschewed the team in favor of enjoying life as a regular student.

But Wilhoit tracked him down, dragged him from a fraternity’s toga party, and introduced him to the new special teams coordinator, Eddie Gran. Gran was so impressed with Mathis, he told Kiffin that Mathis could be the answer.

“Has he ever kicked in a game?” Kiffin questioned.
“No,” Gran admitted.
“Does he have any kicking experience?” the head coach pressed.
“…No, but he needs to go in,” Gran insisted.

So it was written, so it was done. Though no miracles were asked of the Junior kicker in his first start, he kicked a solid game, which is more than could be said of the previous starters.

Perhaps this wasn’t the quintessential Cinderella, but it’s appealing to think of Prince Wilhoit wandering campus to find the one special kicker whom the cleat would fit, and the overlooked hero proving his mettle to the fairy godmother disguised as Coach Gran.

That’s probably why Kiffin it tells that way.

Mathis himself tells a different story, more along the lines of The Brave Little Tailor. According to him, he’d watched the Vols struggle until he could stand it no more, and sought out Gran of his own accord. After three weeks of practice, he was given four hours notice the job was his.

Personally, I prefer Mathis’s version with the moxy and chutzpah, but even if you prefer Kiffin’s glossy, romanticized version, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is the grain of truth: a young man worked hard, and in the end was rewarded.

Tennessee football has a history of maligned players being pushed to the breaking point, but becoming beloved figures of the program. Most recently, Rick Clausen, Eric Ainge, and even Johnathan Crompton have risen from the ashes. Though Mathis never faced the pressure and scrutiny of the aforementioned quarterbacks, his summary of the situation embodies the Volunteer spirit: “I think it just shows if you’re the man for the job and you’ll put in the time and effort, they’ll use you somehow.”

(A shout out to my primary sources: the November 22nd edition of the Lane Kiffin Show and a Tennessean article.)