Tennessee's Dylan Sampson briefly exits Mississippi State game with apparent leg injury
Dylan Sampson appeared to injure his left leg late in the second quarter against Mississippi State Saturday night at Neyland Stadium. No. 7 Tennessee’s junior running back ran left, was stopped for a loss of one yard and appeared to be grabbing at his left ankle on the field.
Sampson left the field under his own power, briefly went into the injury tent on the Tennessee sideline, then walked to the Tennessee locker room with just under a minute left in the first half.
The drive that Sampson left with the injury ended in a 24-yard Max Gilbert field goal to put the Vols up 17-7 with 46 seconds left before halftime. Gilbert then kicked a 38-yard field goal as time expired on the first half to make it a 20-7 lead at the break.
Dont’e Thornton caught a 73-yard touchdown pass to give Tennessee a 14-0 lead with 13:35 left in the second quarter and Squirrel White caught a 34-yard touchdown on Tennessee’s opening drive of the game, giving the Vols a 7-0 lead on fourth-and-3. It was the first points on an opening drive for the Vols since the 71-0 win over Kent State on September 14.
Dylan Sampson went over 1,000 yards for the season in the first quarter
Sampson last week set a new Tennessee single-season rushing touchdown record, scoring his 18th and 19th touchdowns on the year.
He is now Tennessee’s second straight 1,000-yard rusher. Jaylen Wright ran for 1,013 yards last season, becoming the first Tennessee running back to go over 1,000 yards since Jalen Hurd in 2016, when Hurd ran for 1,288 yards.
Sampson entered Saturday night’s game needing just 20 yards to hit 1,000 and ran for 24 yards on four attempts on Tennessee’s first possession.
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He broke the single-season rushing touchdown record when he ran for two scores in the 28-18 win over Kentucky last week, giving him 19 on the season. The previous record of 18 was held by Gene McEver in 1929.
Reggie Cobb held the modern record with 17 during the 1987 season. He set the modern record with in 12 games in 1987, finishing the season with 1,197 yards on 237 attempts and also caught three touchdown passes that year.
Dylan Sampson averaging 122.5 yards per game this season
Sampson finished the Kentucky game with a season-high 142 yards on 27 carries.. He ran for 139 yards and two touchdowns to lead Tennessee to a 24-17 win over rival Alabama three weeks ago.
He has rushed for 100 or more yards in seven of the first eight games this season, with the 139 against Alabama being a new season high. He had 138 at Arkansas, 132 vs. NC State, 124 vs. Chattanooga, 112 vs. Florida, 101 vs. Kent State and 92 at Oklahoma.
Sampson entered the Mississippi State game on pace for 29 rushing touchdowns in Tennessee’s 12-game regular season. He ran for 980 yards through the first eight games, averaging 5.7 yards per carry and averaging 122.5 yards per game.
