KNOXVILLE -- Tennessee legend Chip Kell, the latest UT inductee to the college football Hall of Fame, will return to Rocky Top as the Vols host LSU on Saturday at Neyland Stadium (TV: CBS, 3:30 p.m. Eastern).
Kell is scheduled for a pregame presentation with Hall of Fame representative Matthew Sign and UT athletics director Mike Hamilton. The university will accept the Hall of Fame plaque presented to the school, as has been the case for the previous 20 inductees.
Chip Kell, OL (1968-70)
The Decatur, Ga., native ranks as one of the Vols' best road-pavers in school history, and Kell is the last UT lineman to earn the Jacobs Award for the best blocker in the SEC twice.
Kell also was a two-time All-America and was an All-SEC selection in each of his three seasons at UT. He helped lead the Vols to 28 wins during his career, which he capped with a 34-13 blowout win over Air Force in the 1971 Sugar Bowl.
"Chip Kell was one of the most powerful athletes I ever coached," Doug Dickey -- Kell's coach for his first two campaigns -- said earlier this year. "He was way ahead of his time in development by use of weight training, and he became a true leader on the football team."
Kell led the Vols to an SEC championship in 1969 and helped them finish No. 4 in the nation the following year. UT lost just five games during Kell's three years -- none of which came on Shields-Watkins Field.
He was selected in the 17th round by the San Diego Chargers in the 1971 NFL Draft, and Kell played for two seasons with the Edmonton Eskimos in the CFL before starting his coaching career.
The powerful lineman will be the 21st former Vol to earn admission to the Hall of Fame. The Class of 2006 will be inducted at a dinner in New York City on Dec. 5, and they will be officially enshrined in South Bend, Ind., next summer.
(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)