'They just lost it': Peyton Manning makes appearance as Tennessee professor

Josh Lively didn't know what to think when he read a few words of an email on his way out the door.

"This is confidential. Please don't tell anyone," Lively read when he glanced at his phone one morning in March.

Lively, an assistant director of strategic communications for Tennessee athletics, ran through scenarios in his head as he drove 15 minutes from his house to campus.

When he got there and finally read the email, he was in shock. Lively had been selected to host Tennessee football legend Peyton Manning as a guest speaker in his sports promotion and branding class. Lively was only in his third semester teaching as an adjunct professor for UT's school of advertising and public relations at that point.

"I'm like, holy cow, how did you guys select me?" Lively said Wednesday. "I'm not even full time. There's 1,000 classes they could have picked."

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Lively then had to keep it a secret for five months. But it was worth it to see the reaction of his 99 students when he told them on the first day of class.

He told his students to guess who their guest was, but before they could answer, Lively flashed a photo of Manning on the projector. The entire room gasped. But then he took it off immediately and said he was joking.

"Do you legitimately think they're going to let me have Peyton Manning in my class? Come on guys, let's be serious," Lively said before telling them to guess again. "And then I flashed the photo back up and I was like, 'I'm just kidding. It is, in fact, Peyton Manning. He is coming to our class.'

"And they just lost it."

What Peyton Manning said to Tennessee students in lecture

Part of Lively wondered if all his students understood what a big deal it was for Manning to visit the class.

But his question was answered immediately when he showed up to the classroom 35 minutes early Tuesday and there were already 10-15 students there.

"You could just tell, they understood, OK, this is a big deal," Lively said. "I'm taking this very seriously. I'm getting there on time, I want a good seat. I want to be as close as I can to him and hear him speak."

Manning spoke to the class for a little more than an hour and then stayed for 20 more minutes to take a photo with every student. He offered insight on his career from Tennessee to the NFL and his entertainment company Omaha Productions.

Manning was named a professor of practice by the UTK College of Communication and Information starting in the fall 2023 term. As part of his role, he partners with CCI faculty and teaches a variety of topics as a featured expert.

"He's clearly very smart, but I think it's hard to tell how smart he really is because he gives off a kind of comedic personality at times," Lively said. "But he's very thoughtful ... He knows his stuff and he's very intelligent about a lot of things that are happening. He could have given a lot of generic answers, but he did not. He dove in on some stuff."

Lively had never met Manning before, despite working for UT athletics for six years as a student intern and graduate assistant and the last three years as a professional.

As he sat mere feet from Manning, Lively felt like he was having an out-of-body experience.

"I'm talking to him and I can physically see the emotions in his face as he's answering," Lively said. "I was like, man, this is for real. This is literally insane."

Lively's students shared his excitement, acting giddy as they lined up for photos at the end. CCI Dean Joe Mazer told Lively it will be the most memorable class the students will ever have.

"There's nothing that can touch this, because, I mean, the dude's an icon," Lively said. "Just the pure joy was awesome."

Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on Twitter @corahalll.