Reflections on the career of former Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning have been rolling in since he announced his plans to retire from the NFL Sunday to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen.

Manning’s college coach Phil Fulmer spoke to WBIR NBC Knoxville from his home in Maryville, Tenn.:

 “I’m really honored to have had a chance to be in his life,” Fulmer said. “He’s been very important for everything that’s happened to the Tennessee folks for a long time.”

“The culture that he built at that particular time with him as our leader, on the field and off the field, so you know I think it’s a double edged sword, where both of us are probably pretty grateful that they had this opportunity and I’m so proud of him. All his accomplishments and he stayed the guy that he normally was,” he said. “[Manning] never sees a stranger, he’s always reaching out to people, always doing charitable things, behind the scenes, you know, just a wonderful person.”

For more of Fulmer’s comments to WBIR, click here.

UT’s current coach Butch Jones released the following statement:

On behalf of our football program, we want to congratulate Peyton Manning on a truly remarkable career. We are so fortunate to have Peyton as an ambassador to the University of Tennessee. His name is and will always be synonymous with Tennessee.

It’s really hard to put into words what he has accomplished in his career. Peyton defines excellence in every sense of the word. He was prepared for every situation and that came through meticulous work when no one was watching. He made his coaches and teammates better by pushing everyone for perfection.

We talk to our players all the time about the process and that is the part Peyton never took for granted. He didn’t skip any steps on his way to building a legacy as one of the NFL’s all-time greatest players.

He has impacted so many people off the field through all his charity work with the PeyBack Foundation and his summer football camp.

He’s been a great resource for me and I’m honored to call him a friend. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for him.

Earlier, UT posted a pictorial tribute to Manning chronicling the past 22 years of his football career from high school all the way to Super Bowl 50 last month.