Peyton Manning always knows how to keep it interesting. The great quarterback won’t be joining the Monday Night Football booth for the 2020 season. However, he did drop in on an online course — Communications 499 class — for the University of Tennessee on Thursday.
Per ESPN.com:
John Haas, one of Manning’s favorite professors when the star quarterback was in school, was in on the surprise. “Vols help Vols,” said Haas, who set up Manning’s appearance perfectly.
A few minutes into the class, there’s a ding, and Haas says, “Mr. Thompson, I think you’re late for class.” Manning, wearing a visor with the Vols’ trademark Power T, pops up on screen with the other students via Zoom video conferencing and says, “I’m sorry Dr. Haas. It’s been a while. It’s been at least since 1996 or 7 since I’ve been in a class.”
Haas, trying to keep a straight face, quips, “If you were here, I’d be making you run the stadium steps for being late,” drawing a hearty chuckle from the two-time Super Bowl champion quarterback.
Check it out:
“Just wanted to drop in and say hello to all the fellow communications students there, and I realize this is a unique time,” said Manning, who was a Volunteer in Knoxville from 1994-98. “It’s probably not the ideal way you expected to spend your senior year, but I encourage you to keep a positive attitude, keep working like you are doing.”
Manning had his No. 16 jersey retired by Tennessee in 2005. He passed for 11,201 yards and 89 touchdowns during his college career. He returns to campus every summer to recognize his Peyton Manning Scholars, an endowment he created in 1998 that provides a four-year scholarship to incoming students at the University of Tennessee.
In 2018, Manning also honored Haas by donating $1 million to UT to establish the John Haas Student Experimental Learning Endowment. Haas is a longtime director and associate professor in the College of Communication and Information’s School of Communications Studies.
