It's spring 1970. You're Bill Battle, 28 years old and the head football coach of the University of Tennessee. You've assembled a coaching staff, and it's time for spring practice, concluded, by the annual Orange and White Game.

When game time arrives, the rain comes in "sheets," as Marvin West reported the next day. The two teams dropped the football 15 times. The final score is 7-6. You're playing more sophomores than you want to. What else could happen?

The only returning starting linebacker, junior Jackie Walker, goes down with a knee injury shortly after the opening whistle. Another linebacker, James Woody of Columbia, Tenn., also goes down. It was a turn of events guaranteed to try the mettle of a young coach.

"I couldn't think of anything else but Jackie the rest of the game," Battle said. "He had a fine sophomore season, but he's really been a leader. He had tried so hard and done everything we asked him to do.

"And then when James Woody went down he's one of the three or four defensive players we were counting on for leadership. And he had given us leadership, too."

Walker and Woody had surgery immediately.

"They told me it wasn't too bad," Walker said. "I intend to be back in the fall. I want to be there when it starts." He and Woody did return, although Woody went down again in the Auburn game and wouldn't be on the field until the Air Force game in the Sugar Bowl.

Looking back, each spring practice report looked like a hospital list. Defensive-tackle-to-be Bill Emendorfer had undergone knee surgery. Bobby Majors had a bad ankle. Tom Bennett had a bum shoulder. Quarterback Bobby Scott had a sprained ligament in his elbow.

Tim Priest was elected captain, with Woody, pictured on the day of the announcement in a full leg cast, and dominating lineman Chip Kell, the Jacobs Trophy winner in 1969 and 1970, being named alternate captains.

The Vols started three rookies in the secondary - sophomores David Allen and Conrad Graham at the corners and Majors, a junior, at free safety. Priest, a two-year starter, was the grizzled veteran of the final line of defense. That secondary was part of a defensive effort that forced 57 turnovers, 36 pass interceptions and 21 fumble recoveries.

An 11-1 season and No. 4 national ranking came of all this uncertainty and projected sixth-place SEC finish. Longtime Vol observers rank this group high on their checklist of the great Tennessee teams.

Despite all the drama, this team was resilient. The Vols lost to Auburn that season and defeated everybody else. The highlight weeks of the season were in October. Tennessee defeated Alabama, 24-0, the Tide's first shutout loss since the Liberty Bowl game against Penn State in 1959. It was the pupil, Battle, against the teacher, Bear Bryant, and this year the pupil won. The Vols intercepted eight passes, one returned for a touchdown by Walker.

A week later, Florida came to town for the first time since 1954, and Doug Dickey's homecoming was a 38-7 Vol triumph. The Vols took the Gators apart in the second half, with Walker and Graham returning interceptions for touchdowns.

"The respect I had for him was still there," Scott said, "but, when we put on the orange jersey that day, it was blood and guts. We were going to war."

George Hunt kicked the game-winner at South Carolina to stave off the Gamecocks' upset bid. Roger McKinney told Battle not to worry about Hunt having missed earlier in the quarter. He knew George would make this one.

Tennessee trailed UCLA 17-14, after Ron Carver intercepted a Scott aerial and returned the oskie for a score. Curt Watson and Don McLeary scored the touchdowns that restored order. Commenting on his run, Watson said he motored to the north end zone and didn't stop until everybody around him had a ticket.

Honors came quickly. Kell and Walker each made All-America. Kell, center Mike Bevans, Majors, Priest, Walker, and Watson each made All-SEC.

Vol fans worried about the team's prospects after spring drills found themselves remarkably happy the night of Jan. 1, 1971, when this dynamic season came to an end.

Vol guard Don Denbo, never at a loss for words, had this team pegged exactly right.

"We give so much attention these days to the individual stars. We forget how important and unique a team is. The 1970 team was a team of individuals who somehow put aside their differences (and there were lots of differences) and melded into a unit. We knew we were not going to get beat. We should not have gotten beat. That team should have been national champions."

This was a team. No doubt about it.

Tom Mattingly is the author of "The Tennessee Football Vault: The Story of the Tennessee Volunteers, 1891-2006" (2006), to be published in second edition in 2008, and "Tennessee Football: The Peyton Manning Years" (1998). He may be reached at tjmshm@comcast.net. His News Sentinel blog on govolsxtra.com is called The Vol Historian.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.