I just listened to the Blood River Radio show with Don Wassall as the guest. The host is not very knowledgeable about the SEC in the late 60s. Football fans in Memphis in general have preferred Memphis State and Ole Miss over the University of Tennessee. The host, who seems a Bear Bryant worshipper, had an idea Bryant was the first coach in the SEC to recruit a black player. Wrong.
Kentucky recruited a black prospect in the fall of 1965, whose sophomore year would have been 1967.. He played some in 1967 but dropped out. Kentucky brought in a few the next year who played 1968-70. Tennessee, with coach Doug Dickey, signed two black players for the 1968 sophomore class. One was an all state fullback named Albert Davis who changed his mind and went to all-black Tennessee State, He didn't do much there, played a year for the Philadelphia Eagles.
With Davis, Tennessee recruited a WR-wingback who was supposed to be a room mate for Davis named Lester McLain who did pretty well, was a starter for three years. 1968-70, He was drafted by the Bears but didn't make the team.
Bear Bryant didn't have a black player until 1971 (after blacks at Kentucky and Tennessee had already played for three years) with a DE named John Mitchell (later a long-time NFL assistant coach) and RB Wilbur Jackson, who played several years with the 49ers and other teams.
Doug Dickey left Tennessee in 1970 for the Florida head coaching job. At Florida, Dickey recruited black players in wholesale lots. Florida had one black in 1970. By 1972, Dickey had brought in over 20.
I was a Tennessee fan in those days and followed these developments when they happened.