You didn’t talk about your accomplishments in that locker room. No way. You played on strained muscles and aching bones so you wouldn’t let down the assistant coaches who recruited you. You tried harder because the future quarterback himself came to your high school game to recruit you, as Tee Martin did.

The attitude had to change on Jan. 3, 1998, the day after the Orange Bowl against Nebraska. Tennessee had started one of the greatest offensive players in school history, Peyton Manning, and one of the most dominant players ever on defense, Leonard Little, and still lost to Florida and got pummeled by the Cornhuskers. What was missing?

The 1998 team would find it. This wasn’t Peyton’s or Leonard’s team. It wouldn’t be Tee Martin’s team or Al Wilson’s Volunteers. Other Tennessee teams would be better — “The 1999 team was way more talented,” said defensive end Will Overstreet, a freshman on the 1998 squad — but no single player would define this bunch.

We will be in a better position to define the 2008 team tonight. Very few are expecting Tennessee, with a new starting quarterback replacing a four-year starter, to upset the immensely talented Gators at Neyland Stadium and contend for the SEC East title.

But the 2004 team, after losing four-year starter Casey Clausen, won the East with freshmen Erik Ainge and Brent Schaeffer at quarterback. The 1998 squad, of course, is the greatest example of what happens when a team decides it doesn’t need a star. They had an intensely close class that waited patiently for Manning and Little and others to leave so they could play together.

“I think the biggest difference in 1998 was a lot of guys came to Tennessee for Tennessee,” Martin said. “We were from the South. We knew the Tennessee tradition and what SEC rivalries meant. And a lot of us come to Tennessee because of the coaches on staff.”

Martin cited Rodney Garner, Kevin Ramsey, Pat Washington and Randy Sanders as dynamic personalities during the recruiting process. Martin grew up in Mobile and was more familiar with Florida State and Miami, calling Tennessee “a hated team.”

But the recruiting process changed his mind so much that he started attending high school games to recruit other top athletes. The Vols couldn’t be that far from contending for a title, Martin thought. He needed to convince a few more players. Those prospects just needed to meet the coaches.

“My visit to Tennessee was great, man. Coach Ramsey and Coach Garner and Pat Washington were so cool,” Martin said. “We played for those coaches. We totally believed and bought into the program. You could knock on their doors any time and share with them. I think, as much as anything, it started with the staff, starting at the top with Coach (Phillip) Fulmer on down.”

Motivation came in the form of preseason polls, which predicted a third-place finish for Tennessee in the East. The Vols couldn’t beat Florida or win a national title with Manning and Little. What would happen without them?

“We had two of arguably the best players to play at Tennessee — Peyton and Leonard — and everybody looked to them to make a play,” kicker and team captain Jeff Hall said. “The difference I saw from ’97 to ’98 was everybody started taking responsibility for their own performance. It started after the beatdown we took in the Orange Bowl against Nebraska.

“We lost all those guys to the draft. Peyton was God’s gift to football, and he was gone. We had something to prove. And we had that selfless and humble element you have to have. No one cared who got the credit. That was the biggest thing.”

It’s a point that Overstreet, receiver Jeremaine Copeland — who settled for a smaller role in 1998 — and Martin all made without any prompting. No one cared about the numbers.

“You have to understand, we were really close through recruiting and everyone saying we couldn’t get to the top without the big names like Peyton,” Martin said. “We were happy to see everybody else succeed. The yards, the tackles — we didn’t care. The thing that got us over the hump was the chemistry.”

The Vols never could recapture that unity. Egos swelled, and the 1999 team was remembered for the players who cared more about their NFL aspirations. As Overstreet said, “When you have an experience like we had in 1998, you realize later that it’s so hard to capture again. It’s very elusive.”

We’ll find out a little more about this year’s Vols today. They are also starting a new quarterback and playing Florida at home. They are, again, the underdogs. We’ll see if 2008 looks anything like 1998.

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