He’s not a Doak Walker finalist, but Dylan Sampson solidified the greatest single season in rushing in Tennessee history as the Vols beat the Vanderbilt Commodores 36-23 to punch their ticket to the College Football Playoff Saturday. In the process, Sampson added to his records.
Despite a fumble on the opening offensive drive for the Vols, Sampson regrouped and carried the ball 25 times for a career-high 178 yards. In the process, he reached 1,485 yards on the ground this year, surpassing Travis Stephens’ single-season mark of 1,464 back in 2001.
Sampson broke Gene McEver’s single-season rushing touchdowns record for the Vols back in their win over the Kentucky Wildcats when he hit 19. He’s not got 22. Against the UTEP Miners last week, Sampson’s touchdown put him on top of all players in Tennessee history in terms of points scored, again breaking McEver’s record.
This one puts him in the record books again.
What else can you say about Sampson? He has all of the rushing records and the scoring record in Tennessee history. Most notably, he did it in fewer games. This was Sampson’s 12th game, and every other running back on the top 10 list of single season rushing yards played at least that many that year. Stephens played 13.
Sure, McEver only played 10 games when he set the single season scoring and rushing touchdowns records back in 1929, but Sampson broke the latter one in eight games, so there’s no argument for that either. Every way you slice it, Sampson is having the best rushing season in UT history.
Most importantly, his success is carrying the Vols to the College Football Playoff, which was the goal at the beginning of the year. Amidst all the hype surrounding Nico Iamaleava and what the passing game would be, Sampson, who many didn’t believe could be a feature back at the start of the year, has become a superstar.
By the way, Stephens and Jay Graham, both of whom had the single-season rushing records before Sampson in yards, also entered the year with limited expectations. Both followed the running backs who, at their times, set the all-time career record at UT for rushing yards.
Sampson had to follow Jaylen Wright and Jabari Small so he was in a similar boat. He also had to deal with a passing attack that fell far short of expectations. None of it mattered, though, and he was able to rush his way into the history books for Tennessee. Congratulations to him.
