Former Tennessee icon Peyton Manning reveals pivotal moment in his recruitment journey

Former Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Peyton Manning has opened up on his recruitment to Tennessee. Manning was one of the most sought-after prospects in high school and had offers from all the major schools.

Most thought Manning would commit to Ole Miss, where his father Archie played. But during his junior year of high school, Manning started getting offers from other schools.

Manning said he really started to know how serious a prospect is when Florida State coach Bobby Bowden sent him a handwritten letter.

"All of a sudden you are a junior in high school and you get recruited by other schools," Manning said on "Bussin' With The Boys" (Timestamp - 1:12:01). "I really didn't know how serious it was up until I got my first handwritten letter from Bobby Bowden at Florida State. And I guess I'd heard enough about recruiting.

"There was a lot of form letters, a lot of typed letters, but you got a handwritten letter. I mean, I checked it. It smeared. I mean, it was legitimate. Handwritten letter by Bobby Bowden. I was like, OK, I figured if he's writing me a handwritten letter telling me he's going to recruit me, maybe there are some other schools out there that are interested," Manning added.

Manning went on visits to other schools after he got the letter. Once the quarterback visited Tennessee, he fell in love with the school and ended up committing to the Volunteers.

"And that's when I started kind of looking around, I guess, opening my eyes up a little bit, and had a great visit here to Tennessee — it was snowing. Didn't get to really see the stadium in its glorious view, but met a lot of good people," he continued.

Manning played four seasons at Tennessee before the Indianapolis Colts selected him first overall in the 1998 NFL draft.

Peyton Manning is Tennessee's all-time passing leader

Peyton Manning lived up to the hype in Tennessee.

The star quarterback took over as the starter as a freshman and spent the next three years as the team's starting quarterback.

Manning finished his college career throwing for 11,201 yards, 89 touchdowns and 33 interceptions.

Manning holds numerous Tennessee records, including passing yards in a career, passing yards in a single season, passing touchdowns in a career, passing touchdowns in a single season, passing completions in a career and most wins by a starting quarterback.

He also has his No. 16 retired by the Volunteers and is in the College Football Hall of Fame.