Josh Heupel explains Dylan Sampson's injury situation after Tennessee's loss at Ohio State
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said Saturday night that Dylan Sampson’s missed most of the 42-17 College Football Playoff loss at Ohio State because of a soft tissue injury that occurred late at Vanderbilt on November 30.
The Vols beat Vandy 36-23 behind Sampson’s season-high 178 rushing yards, helping his team punch a ticket to the new 12-team College Football Playoff. He carried just two times for six yards against Ohio State at Ohio Stadium, playing on the first possession of the game and then two snaps in the second half.
Heupel added that Sampson missed practice time during the first two weeks of playoff practices but had returned to practice this week.
“End of the Vandy game, (he) got dinged up,” Heupel said, “and it was soft tissue. And he had been out the first couple weeks and got back with us. Started building him through the week. Felt like he was in a good spot.
“Anticipated him not having the same type of load that he normally would have. Just early in the game kind of retweaked it and wasn’t available there for a while.”
Without Samspon, quarterback Nico Iamaleava had to run 20 times for 47 yards. Freshman Peyton Lewis ran 10 times for a team-high 77 yards and redshirt freshman DeSean Bishop ran seven times for 22 yards. Sophomore Tennessee running back Cameron Seldon left the team eight days ago to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal.
Sampson met with reporters earlier this week in Knoxville and said he felt “great” when asked three weeks off.
“This time off has been good for my body,” Sampson said. “It’s probably the best I have felt all season. My legs feel fresh. Every day counts.”
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Sampson, Tennessee’s junior running back from Baton Rouge, La., carried the Vols during the regular season. He set a new program single-season records with 1,485 yards and 22 touchdowns. Travis Stephens held the previous rushing yards record with 1,464 in 2001 and Gene McEver held the previous touchdown record with 19.
Sampson became Tennessee’s 20th running back to go over 1,000 yards for the season when he ran for 149 yards on a season-high 30 carries against Mississippi State on November 9.
He rushed for 100 or more yards in 10 of 13 games this season and 130 or more yards six times. He had multiple rushing touchdowns in seven games, including three with three or more, but didn’t score a rushing touchdown in either of Tennessee’s final two games.
“We knew Dylan wasn’t at 100%,” Tennessee offensive coordinator Joey Halzle said during his postgame press conference. “We knew he was going to go early and he was going to give it a shot. Whenever that guy is not at 100%, you know, he’s SEC offensive Player of the Year, right, he makes everything go.
“So losing him and actually not even having him at full speed was tough. But that’s part of the job, is when you’re not healthy, when you’re not 100 percent, what are you going to do to get the job done. We didn’t get it done tonight.”
