How Dylan Sampson showed Tennessee coaches he 'deserved a role in every game'
When Dylan Sampson didn’t get a carry in Tennessee’s 29-16 loss at Florida on September 16, he didn’t hang his head. There was no negative reaction or pushback. Instead, the sophomore running back kept pushing forward.
“Just the way he handled himself,” Tennessee running backs coach Jerry Mack said during his press conference on Tuesday, “you see a lot of guys, especially young guys who kind of have an attitude and they’re different when they come in the building at times, especially when things don’t go their way.
“But Sampson didn’t do that. He worked the same, matter of fact, probably worked even a little bit harder to show us that he deserved a role in every game playing.”
It showed in the 45-14 win over UTSA on Saturday. Sampson carried 11 times for 139 yards and two touchdowns, leading the Vols in all three categories. He’s now up to a team-high five rushing touchdown and six touchdowns overall in his three games.
“I think the more you see him,” Mack said, “I think he’s constantly getting better every time he touches the field.”
Dylan Sampson this season: 27 carries, 199 yards, 5 TDs
Sampson had a long of 44 against UTSA, averaged 12.6 yards per carry and had a 41-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, after a 10-yard touchdown run to put Tennessee up 14-0 five minutes into the first quarter.
“I think the way that he ran the ball really well … the way he pressed the double teams, made a decision at the last second, (a) full-speed decision,” Mack said. “And then you kind of saw a natural ability kind of expose itself in the open field, breaking tackles, being able to use his off arms to try to step on guys and stuff like that, to get away from bodies.
“(It’s) just the amount of work that he’s put in to work on his craft, to make sure he understands the game plan and just make sure he understands where those hitters are down in and down out.”
Tennessee offensive coordinator Joey Halzle said in the days after the loss at Florida that Sampson should have been in the rotation at running back. Mack said Tuesday it came down to score and situation.
The Vols trailed the Gators 26-7 at halftime after getting outscored 20-0 in the second quarter.
“We didn’t get as many snaps as we would like during the game,” Mack said. “We found ourself in a position where we had to play catch-up on some things. So from a standpoint of maybe throwing the ball a little bit more, pass protection, obviously Jay Wright and and Jabari (Small) are a little bit bigger than Dylan Sampson, so those were some situations where we felt like, hey, we gotta get a little bit of a stouter guy.”
No. 21 Tennessee vs. South Carolina, Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network
The three-headed run game of Wright, Small and Sampson has No. 21 Tennessee (3-1, 0-1 SEC) at No. 1 in the SEC in rushing a 229.5 yards per game. The group will be leaned on heavily when South Carolina (2-2, 1-1) visits Neyland Stadium on Saturday night (7:30 p.m. Eastern Time, SEC Network).
“As far as how (Sampson) fits in that entire role,” Mack said of the rotation at running back, “it just depends on what kind of package. I think there’re always gonna be a package or a set of situations that we will have (Sampson) in the game just because of the skillset is a little bit different.
“Like all three of them, all three of those guys skill set is a little bit different from one another. But I think going forward you going to see quite a bit of Dylan Sampson for sure.”
