As of Thursday afternoon, Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning has found his name trending on social media. No, the former Vol isn’t wrapped up in any breaking controversy, and he doesn’t have a new commercial in the works… well, that we’re aware of.
It looks like Manning is trending on X for far more random reasons.
The first one is a story that loves to pop up like a quick afternoon rainstorm, as Manning was shown on camera during Game 5 of the Clippers-Nuggets series in Denver on Wednesday night. Why did it catch fire on the internet? Because Manning was housing a bucket of popcorn in true sports fan fashion.
“Peyton Manning’s always got the concessions going,” TNT’s Stan Van Gundy said on the broadcast.
The Sheriff’s in Denver for Game 5 🫡🍿 pic.twitter.com/S6YtyuG15s
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 30, 2025
Let Peyton Manning shovel popcorn into his face in peace
— Nate Kreckman (@NateKreckman) April 30, 2025
Who got the video of Peyton Manning destroying that popcorn?
— ThatsGoodSports (@BrandonPerna) April 30, 2025
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The other reason is a bit more interesting. And yes, before the comments come on X, this is the definition of an offseason type of story.
On Wednesday afternoon, the account “Football’s Greatest Moments” posed an age-old question on X: Name a college football player who should’ve won the Heisman, but didn’t.
In nearly 24 hours, that one post has 1.9 million views, more than 3,900 replies, and nearly 1000 reposts.
One search of Manning’s name on X on Thursday shows that he was a very frequent answer by respondents to FGM’s question.
“Not a UT fan but Peyton Manning,” one user replied.
Another user created a list of his all-time Heisman snubs:
Herschel Walker, GA (1980)
Tommie Frazier, NEB (1995)
Peyton Manning, UT (1997)
LaDainian Tomlinson, TCU (2000)
Adrian Peterson, OU (2004)
Darren McFadden, ARK (2007)
Ndamukong Suh, NEB (2009)
Christian McCaffrey, STAN (2015)— Coach Brian (@Pick6Club) May 1, 2025
In 1997, Michigan’s Charles Woodson beat out Tennessee’s Peyton Manning despite the media favoring the Volunteer quarterback throughout the season. Manning threw for 3,819 yards, 36 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions during his remarkable senior year in Knoxville and posted an astounding 147.7 QBR. Manning led Tennessee to an SEC Championship win over Auburn and shattered numerous school and conference quarterbacking records.
Check out some of the highlights from that SEC Championship game and Manning’s 1997 season below:
