Tennessee running back Dylan Sampson declares for 2025 NFL Draft

Tennessee Volunteers running back Dylan Sampson has declared for the NFL Draft via Instagram, as he looks to continue his football journey at the professional level in 2025.

There’s bound to be a ton of interest in Sampson in the NFL. This past season he was named the SEC Offensive Player of the Year, finishing the campaign with 1,491 rushing yards on 258 attempts with 22 rush TDS.

As you can tell by his impressive numbers, Sampson was a huge reason why Tennessee was able to reach the College Football Playoff this season. However, it all came to a disappointing end for the Volunteers, as they were blown out by the Ohio State Buckeyes on the road in Columbus during the First Round.

Sampson had two carries for six yards in the first quarter for the Vols, but then he didn’t return until early in the third quarter, when he had a catch for 2 yards. That was due to an injury, stemming from Tennessee’s victory over Vanderbilt, that he re-aggravated during this past weekend’s contest.

“We felt like he was in a good spot. We anticipated he would not have the same load but he re-tweaked it and wasn’t available for a while,” Josh Heupel said regarding Sampson’s injury, via Joe Reedy of the Associated Press.

Without their incredible running back and their rushing attack as a whole being up to par, it was always going to be an uphill battle for the Volunteers, but Sampson tried to give it his best for his team nonetheless.

“We knew he was going to give it a shot. Whenever that guy is not at 100%, he makes everything go. So losing him and actually not even having him at full speed was tough,” offensive coordinator Joey Halzle said, via Reedy. “But that’s part of the job, is when you’re not healthy, when you’re not 100%, what are you going to do to get the job done. We didn’t get it done tonight.”

Moving forward, Dylan Sampson’s play during the 2024 regular season will certainly be enough to catch the eye of NFL squads, and his guts for trying to play in the College Football Playoff will be impressive to decision makers, as well. The future is bright for the running back, as he heads to the NFL in 2025.

As a recruit, Sampson played high school football at Dutchtown (LA), where he was a four-star prospect. He was the No. 393 overall recruit in the 2022 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.