{"id":88746,"date":"2026-07-03T12:00:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T16:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=88746"},"modified":"2026-07-03T12:43:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T16:43:39","slug":"57-days-away-from-college-football-kickoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2026\/07\/03\/57-days-away-from-college-football-kickoff\/","title":{"rendered":"57 Days Away From College Football Kickoff"},"content":{"rendered":"
We are 57 days away from college football kickoff<\/a>. Happy Football Friday. \u00a0We are cruising through the Summer. \u00a0Today, we have Steve Kiner, Kevin Carter, and Norman Masters. These three had some outstanding careers. \u00a0<\/span>Be sure to check back tomorrow for #56 in our countdown<\/a> to kickoff. Enjoy!<\/span><\/div>\n

Steve Kiner (57) Days Away From College Football Kickoff<\/h2>\n

Tennessee Talent<\/h3>\n

Steve Kiner<\/a> is one of the first names that comes up when talking about great linebackers in Tennessee football history. In the late 1960s, he spent three seasons making life difficult for opposing offenses. Kiner was quick, tough, and truly loved the game. He played under Coach Doug Dickey from 1967 to 1969. <\/span><\/p>\n

In 1967, Kiner was named SEC Sophomore of the Year, the same year the Vols won the SEC and finished ranked second in the nation. He led the team in tackles twice and finished his college career with nine interceptions. <\/span><\/p>\n

Kiner covered a lot of ground from his linebacker spot and set a high bar for those who followed. Alabama coach Paul \u201cBear\u201d Bryant once called Kiner the best linebacker in the SEC during the late 1960s. Kiner was a two-time All-America and All-SEC pick and played in the 1970 Senior Bowl. <\/span><\/p>\n

Kiner was drafted in the third round by the Dallas Cowboys in 1970 and went on to play for Dallas, New England, Washington, and Houston before retiring in 1978. In 1990, Kiner was named to the \u201c100 Years of Volunteers\u201d all-time team, cementing his legacy at UT. He was inducted into both the College Football Hall of Fame and the University of Tennessee Athletics Hall of Fame in 1999.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another Great # 57, Kevin Carter, Florida<\/b><\/h3>\n
Kevin Carter<\/a> ended his college career with 42.5 tackles for loss and 21.8 sacks, which put him seventh and fifth in school history. He made the first-team All-SEC in both his junior and senior years and was a four-year letter winner, starting 38 of his last 39 games.<\/span><\/div>\n
In 1994, Carter was one of five finalists for the Defensive Player of the Year Award from Football News, and he was also a finalist for the Lombardi Award,given to the nation\u2019s top lineman. Carter was voted to the Florida Gators All-Century Team in 2000 and the 100th Anniversary Team in 2006. Her was inducted into the University of Florida Sports Hall of Fame in 200.4.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Carter was a first-round pick in the 1995 NFL Draft, going sixth overall to the St. Louis Rams. He played 224 straight games and never missed a game in his 14-year NFL career. He recorded 104.5 career sacks and played for the St. Louis Rams, Tennessee Titans, Miami Dolphins, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.<\/span><\/div>\n

One More Great #57 Stormin Norman Masters, Michigan State<\/h3>\n
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Norm Masters<\/a> was named a consensus All-American in 1955. He was selected by United Press, Look Magazine, International News Service, and Newspaper Enterprise.<\/span><\/div>\n
Master was also recognized by NBC-TV, Central Press, and Fox Movietone. Known for his tough tackles, he earned the nickname \u201cStormin\u2019 Norman.\u201d Masters played a key role in helping the Spartans allow only 7.7 points per game, which still ranks fourth in school history. After a 38-14 win over Stanford, he was voted to receive the game ball. He was drafted in the second round by the Chicago Cardinals and later played for the Green Bay Packers from 1957 to 1964.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Editor’s Note: The countdown to college football kickoff has been a series on the Last Word on College Football social media platforms for the past 9 years. \u00a0They consisted of a photo and a small blurb for each player, with the jersey corresponding to the number of days until kickoff. \u00a0The rank of the players is sourced from articles by Bleacher Report, Fox Sports, and The Athletic. There are also some favorite players of the Last Word on College Football writers. \u00a0Their bios are sourced from multiple online sources, including but not limited to the College Football Hall of Fame, their Heisman profiles, and school websites.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

main photo: University of Tennessee Athletics<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are 57 days away from college football kickoff. Happy Football Friday. \u00a0We are cruising through the Summer. \u00a0Today, we have Steve Kiner, Kevin Carter, and Norman Masters. These three had some outstanding careers. \u00a0Be sure to check back tomorrow for #56 in our countdown to kickoff. Enjoy! Steve Kiner (57) Days Away From College […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1643,"featured_media":88850,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,35587],"tags":[36114],"class_list":["post-88746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-sec","category-tennessee-volunteers","tag-countdown-to-kickoff"],"modified_by":"Kate Pearson Halyburton, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1643"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88746"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88853,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88746\/revisions\/88853"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}