Senior quarterback Josh Dobbs’ late decision to pick the Vols instead of Arizona State has helped hasten Coach Butch Jones’ rebuilding of the program.

-- Donald Page/Tennessee Athletics/Utsports.Com

Over the summer, Peyton Manning spoke with Josh Dobbs about the essence of a senior season for a college quarterback.

The conversation, Dobbs says, boiled down to one succinct piece of advice:

“Enjoy it.”

Talk about the voice of experience. Looking back 19 years, I think it’s safe to say Manning didn’t enjoy his senior season at Tennessee. He struggled to deal with the expectations that confronted him in 1997. He played poorly in a 33-20 loss at Florida in the third game of the season.

Even as the Vols were reeling off nine consecutive victories and claiming their first SEC title in seven years, Manning saw his dream of winning the Heisman Trophy evaporate.

By the time his senior season ended with a 42-17 loss to Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, Manning appeared worn down by the events of the previous four months. He played his final college game with a ruptured bursa sac in his right knee. He threw for only 134 yards against the Cornhuskers that day.

Now it’s Dobbs’ turn.

He enters his senior season as quarterback of a Tennessee team that is receiving considerable national hype. The Vols are favored to win the SEC East, something the program hasn’t done since 2007.

One of the reasons so much is expected of UT this season is the presence of Dobbs. In a conference lacking proven quarterbacks, he is the exception.

“It’s cool to see Tennessee has risen,” Dobbs says. “Tennessee is back to where traditional Tennessee has been.”

And much of that is due to Dobbs.

It isn’t stretching things to say that one of the biggest factors in the turnaround of the Vols program came in the winter of 2013 when new coach Butch Jones managed to convince Dobbs, who had committed to Arizona State, to reconsider his choice.

Dobbs picked Tennessee at the 11th hour. He says he still has the Excel spreadsheet in which he compared UT and Arizona State in a variety of categories, with the Vols eventually winning out.

What if Dobbs had signed with Arizona State instead? Would the Vols have found another quarterback to come in and help right the ship?

Maybe. But Dobbs was the right quarterback at the right time. All things considered, the dual threat as a runner and passer that Dobbs poses, as well as the intangibles he brings to the position, would be very, very difficult for another quarterback to duplicate.

At the time of his signing, though, it did not seem to be that big a deal. Rivals.com rated Dobbs as a three-star prospect on its five-star scale. Some recruiting services considered fellow UT quarterback signee Riley Ferguson the better prospect.

It did not go unnoticed that, as freshmen, Ferguson made the trip with the Vols to Florida while Dobbs remained in Knoxville. There were whispers that Dobbs was not performing well in practice.

UT coaches seemed intent on redshirting him.

He’s come a long way since then. He took over as starting quarterback midway through his sophomore season and has steadily improved. The Vols are 14-5 in his last 19 starts, dating back to the 2013 season.

Sometimes Dobbs seems too good to be true. While the term “student-athlete” is thrown around recklessly, it actually applies to Dobbs. He’s a student first, an athlete second. Clearly, he has his priorities in order.

They say football isn’t rocket science. But Dobbs is a rocket scientist playing football. Last summer, he interned for aerospace manufacturer Pratt and Whitney in Florida.

For quarterback Josh Dobbs to be successful on his feet and in the short passing game, he’s going to need to convince opponents that he can thrown the ball downfield.

-- Craig Bisacre/Tennessee Athletics/Utsports.Com

This summer, he took his studies north of the border, working for Pratt and Whitney in Montreal.

UT coach Butch Jones calls Dobbs “a great ambassador and representative for the University of Tennessee” and a “very, very competitive young man.”

“When you look at the definition of a student-athlete, it starts with Josh Dobbs,” Jones says. “When you look at engineering, you look at his curriculum, you look at the time demands that are placed on him from an academic workload and then being the starting quarterback at the University of Tennessee.

“We always talk about the quarterback at the University of Tennessee. That’s a global position. And he’s done a great job.”

Now the Vols are asking him to do an even greater job in one area – throwing the football down the field. Until he proves he can deliver the ball on intermediate and deep pass routes, opposing defenses will crowd receivers while loading up to stop UT’s running game.

“Of course, a lot goes into the vertical passing game,” Dobbs says. “It’s calling plays with good looks. It’s winning one-on-one matchups on the outside. It’s ball placement by myself. It’s making difficult catches. All of that comes into play. …

“We know what we have to get better at. At the end of the day, it comes down to did you win or lose, what you lost or what you won. That’s the only stat we are worried about, wins and losses.”

There are doubters, however.

Dobbs’ footwork needs to improve as he sets up to delivers his passes. Sometimes he fails to step into his throws. There were times in the fourth quarter of games last season when Vols offensive coordinator Mike DeBord stuck with conservative play calls rather than ask Dobbs to make throws down the field.

So the question remains: Can he make the big throw on third-and-long with the game on the line?

“Everybody’s entitled to their own opinion,” Dobbs said to reporters at SEC Media Days. “I know my opinion.

“I know I can do everything when I step on the field. I know I can make every throw. I can make every run. …

“I hold myself to a higher standard, higher than anyone else. I’m self-motivated so I don’t need outside motivation. I’m self-motivated and my goal is to be great every time I step on the field.”

All in all, he sounds like a young man who is preparing to follow Peyton Manning’s advice and have quite a bit of fun in his senior season.

Reach David Climer at [email protected] and on Twitter @DavidClimer.