Sam Pittman makes definitive statement about the Tennessee Vols' offensive line from the 2012 season

Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Sam Pittman is quite familiar with the Tennessee Vols.

Pittman has coached against the Vols numerous times over his career at various stops (North Carolina, Arkansas, Georgia). He also served as Tennessee's offensive line coach in 2012 when Derek Dooley was the Vols' head coach.

The 2012 Tennessee team is a squad that Vols fans remember well. Tennessee finished 5-7 that year and Dooley was fired before the final game of the season (offensive coordinator Jim Chaney served as the interim head coach in UT's season-ending win against Kentucky).

Despite the losing record, the Vols' offense was fun as hell to watch in 2012. Tennessee averaged 36.2 points per game behind the efforts of quarterback Tyler Bray, wide receivers Justin Hunter and Cordarrelle Patterson, and a stout offensive line.

The Vols' offensive line was so good in 2012, in fact, that Pittman believes it was the best in the nation that year.

"I really enjoyed my 11 months [at Tennessee]," said Pittman this week on his coach's show when asked about the 2012 season. "I will say this, I think we had the best offensive line in college football when I was there. We gave up eight sacks, we were good. Tyler Bray was the quarterback. I had, I don't know, four or five guys drafted on that offensive line. They were really good. And I enjoyed my time there. The people were good to me."

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Anthony "Tiny" Richardson, Dallas Thomas, James Stone, Zach Fulton, and Ja'Wuan James were the Vols' starting offensive linemen in 2012. All of those players had at least a cameo in the NFL (James was a first round pick by the Miami Dolphins in 2014 and Thomas was a third round pick by the Dolphins in 2013).

Pittman wasn't retained by new head coach Butch Jones after the 2012 season. It was a decision that foreshadowed a litany of bad decisions by Jones during his time at Tennessee.

Related: Arkansas HC Sam Pittman shuts down potential controversy ahead of game against the Tennessee Vols