There were plenty of players that had to live up to – and surpass – preseason expectations for Tennessee to be still firmly in the College Football Playoff chase headed into November, which with a bye week they certainly are. No position was more important than running back. None have done more than Dylan Sampson who has about as much quit in him as the sun.
Like every player, Sampson will flame out one day, but not this year and not until he makes an impact on the NFL. If the Heisman Trophy was based on worth and not whatever enigmatic criteria that the award is decided on, Sampson would be right on top of the list. He still may get some consideration. He’d be on my ballot of it were due today.
The Vols were supposed to lack the same physicality that former tailback Jaylen Wright gave the Vols last season. They were supposed to be without much-needed depth at tailback in the SEC, which has knocked all-time greats like Bo Jackson out of the game.
Yet Sampson keeps chugging, keeps making plays, keeps handling the position almost single-handedly and keeps charging into Tennessee’s record books. No, this isn’t an ordinary tailback. Sampson is something special that has flown under the radar due to a highly publicized quarterback and an elite defense. However, it has become clear. Sampson is the Vols’ leader and superstar.
I go back to a conversation I had with Tennessee center Cooper Mays before the 2022 season. Mays doesn’t get blown away by young talent unless they are, indeed, top talents with top-flight work ethics. Mays told me Sampson would be special way back then. Well, he’s all that a lot more.
Sampson is a team leader, which is incredibly unusual at running back. Just by the nature of the position, running backs usually keep quiet and accept whatever role they are lucky enough to be bestowed with. Not Sampson. He’s proven that he’ll demand the ball and do something with it.
Sampson’s maturity is off the charts. Sampson lost his first fumble – in his career – against Alabama as the Vols beat the Crimson Tide 24-17 on Saturday . That didn’t even cause him to break stride as he carried the ball 26 times for 139 yards and two touchdowns despite facing one of the most stout collection of players he’ll face all year. Now, Alabama isn’t the best defense he’ll face all year. He sees that sort of defense everyday in practice and there are better collective defenses on the schedule. Still, the Crimson Tide forced Sampson into a major mistake that could have sidetracked his day. It didn’t
“Just gotta put it behind me, you know?” Sampson said of the fumble and the mistakes that the Vols’ offense keeps making that are keeping them from being great, which seems to be happening right in front of our eyes. “Similar situation this past week. It’s somebody on the offense taking their turn, you know?
“While we have had positives, we just shooting ourselves in the foot, but I couldn’t dwell on that. I had to be a leader for my team. I know everybody’s trying to be the spark plug, so you can’t dwell on things like that. That’s what the film is for. The next day you go back and fix it. But, coming out of halftime, we knew we had to get things going.”
There’s no denying that Sampson was the spark plug against the Crimson Tide. Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said as much after the game.
As Bama began to tire, holes began to open on Tennessee’s offensive line. To no one’s surprise, Sampson was ready. His longest run was just 36 yards so he didn’t gash Bama for a big play to down the Tide. He killed Alabama with a series of paper-cut runs that maximized his blocking and made the Crimson Tide adjust, which opened things up down field for quarterback Nico Iamaleava, the redshirt freshman who may have turned the corner against Alabama.”
“We started playing better on tempo,” Sampson said. “People holding their blocks better. And then it’s just when you get in the zone, you know, you keep it rolling.”
A younger, more inexperienced Sampson may have been angry at another lackluster, first-half showing by the Vols, who have gone three consecutive games without a point in the first half. Sampson was too intent to be emotional.
“You don’t want to be angry, but it’s like you want to dwell on what we could have done, but we didn’t do it, you know?” Sampson said. “All we knew was our defense was playing their tails off. We knew we were getting the ball back first, so you can’t dwell on that.
“You know that’s a situation in the locker room where the energy can go down. But you have leaders walking around explaining how we’re getting the ball back, how we gotta have defense back. All we could do was move forward and worry about the next play.”
Sampson was surely one of those leaders. However, truth be told, Sampson has been a leader for the Vols since he was a freshman. He’s led by his performance in offseason workouts and preseason camp. His faith in his offensive line has led him to becoming one of the best tailbacks in the nation.
“It just starts with the mindset of me trusting my blocks up front, knowing that, it’s not going to be too much dancing around,” Sampson said. “It’s not like I have to speed myself up, but it’s going to be tight, tight, small gaps, that I got to get to. So it’s just about lowering the pad level and just the will to get in the end zone for real. Every time I get that close, I get excited to get in the end zone. And that’s what I’m going to do.”
There’s no arguing that.
Sampson has found the end zone 17 times on the ground this season. He’s one rushing touchdown away from matching halfback Gene McEver’s record of 18 rushing touchdowns which was set in 1929. Barring something unforeseen, Sampson will shatter that record. Barring something unforeseen, he may be the Vols’ best leader at running back in the last 25 years of college football. The position doesn’t usually demand as much. Sampson doesn’t care. He knows what his teammates need and he’s always there to deliver.
