Jerry Mack breaks down Tennessee's 'three-headed monster' at running back

Tennessee football came out of the bye week ranked seventh in the country and No. 1 in the Southeastern Conference in rushing offense, averaging 231.2 yards per game. The Vols are second nationally and leading the SEC in yards per carry, at 6.18.

And it’s because of what Tennessee assistant coach Jerry Mack described as the “three-headed monster” the Vols lean on in the backfield. Junior Jaylen Wright leads the team in carries, with 61, and yards, with 435. Senior Jabari Small is on his heels with 53 carries for 317 yards and sophomore Dylan Sampson as been the playmaker, scoring a team-high seven total touchdowns while carrying 36 times for 248 yards. 

On Monday, Mack, Tennessee’s third-year running backs coach, was the guest speaker at the Knoxville Quarterback Club. Here’s what he had to say about the elite production the Vols have had in the run game through the first five games of the season:

Opening Statement

“It’s been an up and down season, but so far so good And right now for running backs, you couldn’t ask for better situation. Our running back are playing really well. We’ve got a three-headed monster right now with (Dylan) Sampson, Jabari Small and (Jaylen) Wright. Those guys are doing an excellent job right now. Now from the standpoint of offense right now trying to figure out a way. The cool thing about our offense is we figured out a way to win in a different way than last year. You know, last year we talk about leading the SEC in passing, the nation in passing. This year we lead the SEC in rushing, as of a couple weeks ago. I don’t know what it looks like since we had a bye week, but right now from a standpoint of putting the ball on the ground, running the ball, they’re going very well. 

“Now we look at offensive line positions, offensive line, trying to figure out different situations. Right now, I think we got five guys that we really feel good about right now. Alright, still gotta rotate guys. This is kind of part of what we do, but for the most part, you saw last week, a couple weeks ago how we got five guys and we still got a chance to move the ball effectively. Quarterback wise, Joe Milton, quarterbacks, doing a good job for us right now. Joe is still growing. Joe is still learning as it goes on, but right now we’re really pleased with the way it’s operator. Receiver wise, we took a hit last week with (Bru) McCoy, but they same standpoint, guys gotta step up. Kaleb (Webb) and Chas Nimrod, those guys you are going to see be more on the field as we go along. Our tight end positions have been playing really good as well. You can see Cali (McCallan Castles) doing some good things. Jacob Warren as consistent as can be as a rock throughout the whole season. So just really excited about where we’re headed off physically. 

“Some of the things that we’re doing, all those different things, learning how to use some more personnel, learning how to use different people in different situations, putting those guys in position to be successful. You can see even with the running back position this year, we’re starting to throw the ball to those guys a lot more on the perimeter and that’s a compliment to those guys working hard and offseason, learning how to catch the football a lot better, working on their skillset. And we are trying to be more diverse and find ways to get those guys involved in space.”

Texas A&M’s defensive strength being its defensive line, how Tennessee is preparing for that challenge

“Yeah, I do think you know that five, those five guys that we got right now (on the offensive line), that combination, we feel really good about those guys because of what they that they did the last couple weeks. But for the most part it’s going to be all about straining up front. Like we got Cooper back and like you saw the difference in our run game, getting him back on the field and that’s big for us right now.

“Those guys come off to the second level a lot faster. Straining blocks like that is where we’ve been kind of missing a little bit with him, but now you kind of see it all kind of coming together, gelling together. (A&M is) massive up front. (The defensive) line is huge from the end to the interior. Big. So it’s gonna be up to running backs to make sure we’re running through a lot of those arm tackles when they put that one arm right there. We talk a lot about running through those one-arm tackles they’re trying to make. And that’s gonna be crucial. So the key is gonna be straining up front like always, but even more this week.

If Dylan Sampson could play on the field at the same time as another Tennessee running back

“Right now, we’re in there kind of going through the scheme, going through different situations. Matchups are gonna be really important. Like how can you get a guy like Dylan Sampson with one step on a linebacker or how can we get a matched up on a guy that doesn’t play a whole lot sometimes? But at the same time, you still got Jabari (Small), still got Jaylen Wright and those guys can do some different things as well. So right now the key is to try to find ways to continue to incorporate Sampson into the game plan. He’s always going to have a series or two in the first half and in the second half where it is just his series just for the simple fact the way we rotate guys. 

“But there’s no doubt like he’s a guy, (we) probably missed the boat a little bit in the Florida game because of certain situations that didn’t allow to get on the field. But every time he steps on the field, every time he has a chance to touch the ball, you can see he does something dynamic explosive with the ball in his head.”

Getting Dylan Sampson more involved in Tennessee’s passing game, trying to get him in space as much as possible

“Yeah, well I can’t do too much. Can’t give you too much of game plan. I’ll be reading about this on the internet and then you be reading about me in another place. We’ll take a little bit about like just making sure that we do do a good job of making sure that Dylan is involved in the game plan more than anything else. I do think like his skillset allows him to go on the perimeter. Obviously, we have situations with injuries in the slot. There’s a chance you can see a lot of different things. Not only just him, you can see Jabari doing some different things as far as one the perimeter because they do have his skillset. Small was a former receiver early his career in high school. He has got some (ties) as far as his family, uncles and dad playing receiver in the SEC. 

“All those guys do a really good job of catching the football. We’ve incorporated a lot more screen plays, a lot more touch balls like I like to try to call them on the perimeter right now to all the running backs and the receivers. So getting those guys incorporated a lot more, not just Dylan Sampson but all those running backs is extremely important.”

Joe Milton’s 81-yard touchdown run on the first play against UTSA

“I wish I could (take credit for it). I do take credit for the ball security at the end. He didn’t fumble the ball, that was good. But no, Joe did a great job of reading the backside on that play. Then after that, we tell our guys all the time now once you get space, that’s what mom and dad gave you. So he used this ability to go ahead and separate. We talk a lot of times about crossing goal line with speed and that’s what Joe did. Joe thought he was gonna get caught. You could see probably about the last 20 yards or so he started to ease up and look around. He just surprised himself by how fast he was running.”

The progression of Tennessee’s young running backs, freshmen Cam Seldon, Khalifa Keith and Desean Bishop 

“The young guys are coming along extremely well. Cam’s doing a really good job of just kind of growing and learning. You see him involved in special teams a lot … right now what you see about what Cam is, Cam came in the door just a sponge. He came in in January learning everything. I think everybody’s been pleased with him, his production, his growth in the building. He’s learning the game. I tell you a lot of times these young guys that play video games growing up. Did you play Madden? Did you watch football? Like that’s how you learn all the ins and outs of the game. That’s how you learn a lot of the situations, whether you know it or not. And that’s something he just didn’t do growing up. He was a guy that stayed out in the street playing ball, lifting weights. Eat, go home, go to sleep, alright. That’s basically what Cam Seldon was. That’s what he did his whole career, his whole life. So him learning the game of football has really been fun to see and he’s getting better and better each week. 

“I do think he’s gonna be a starter to be honest with you. As he gets older, as he gets more comfortable with what we do and how we do it, the sky’s the limit for him. 

“The other young back, Khalifa Keith, came in from Birmingham, Alabama. Very similar situation. The background is a little bit different than Cam, but a guy that just didn’t watch a lot of football growing up. He was a guy that’s on the basketball court, on the baseball field. He was a true gym rat. A guy that just stayed in the gym, doing a lot of different things. (He’s) 230 pounds. 6-foot-1, physical guy. Understands how big he is, but I don’t think he understands what he can do with it all the time. And right now I’ve been really pleased with how he’s come in the door and the way he performs with the ball in his hand as a runner behind the tackles. And that’s something that usually a young guy has to grow and learn, but like Khalifa came in with a really natural feel to do it. 

“And then the local guy, Desean Bishop, Desean came in with us as well in January and the spring man, he’s done a good job. Unfortunately he got hurt during camp, but I do think he’s got a bright future ahead of him. The things that he was doing during spring, the things that he did during camp, you can just tell he’s a guy that’s gonna be able to accelerate his learning curve once he gets back healthy. He’s a sponge right now in the film room. He’s still coming over for treatment and he’ll be ready to rock and roll hopefully by spring.”

Why Dylan Sampson wasn’t in Tennessee’s running back rotation in the loss at Florida

“I really think it was more about the game. When you look at the Florida game, the reality of what happened was we got behind a little bit and we felt like we were gonna throw the ball a little bit more. So with that aspect, you know Sampson, he’s about 195ish, somewhere in that range. So we wanted put guy in the game like Jaylen Wright, like Jabari (Small) who would have a chance to maybe be better in pass protection. And that was really the biggest thing before. That’s really the main reason. And really the only reason that he didn’t play, if it would’ve been a situation where it was just a regular game, he was actually lined up to have the third or fourth series in the game. You go back and look at the game the first half, I don’t even think we had really 20 plays or so. And that dictated a lot.”