During a wild weekend in Knoxville on the baseball front, the Tennessee football program secured another commitment. 3-Star RB Dylan Sampson, from Louisiana, committed to the Vols on Sunday, giving them their sixth pledge of the 2022 class.
The 5-foot-10, 180 pound speedster plays for Dutchtown High School and is looking to bring his speed to Knoxville. The Vols coaching staff will be able to use Sampson in a variety of different ways, especially coming out of the backfield.
Ryan Callahan of GoVols 247 offered his insight into what Tennessee is getting in the running back.
“The first thing that catches your attention about Dylan Sampson is his speed. Not many people anywhere in college football can run a 10.48-second 100 meters. That’s elite speed, and the impressive thing about Sampson is that he doesn’t just have good straight-line speed that’s not all that useful on the football field unless he gets in open field. He’s just a good football player who happens to be really fast.”
As for his future and athletic build, Callahan notes that he could be a great compliment to the current Vols running back room, especially with the power backs they already have on roster.
“He’s not the biggest running back – he’s only 180 pounds and generously listed at 5-10 – but I think he’s a really nice complement to what Tennessee currently has at the running-back position. The Vols already have some bigger guys like Dee Beckwith, Tee Hodge and Len’Neth Whitehead. With the possible exception of Jaylen Wright, a newcomer who remains a bit of a wild card among that group, they really don’t have anyone who closely resembles Sampson. He should give them some versatility and much-needed speed, and I think he’s a good fit for Josh Heupel’s offense.”
Tennessee will look to hold off other teams that come after Sampson, something Callahan noted when discussing Sampson’s future.
“I also won’t be surprised if Tennessee ultimately has to fight off some other teams to hold onto Sampson in the coming months. He’s the type of player who could catch some people’s attention with a big senior season and might end up getting more offers. But I think the Vols are pretty excited about having him at this point, and they should be. This is a nice pickup, in my opinion.”
In the end, Tennessee hopes that Sampson can continue building his body and prepare himself for his upcoming senior season, before potentially arriving in Knoxville.
One Response
I along with thousands of other Vol fans long for the return of real Tennessee Football to our State. We have suffered for far to long and hopefully this new staff will be the ones to engineer the return of real football to Tennessee. I also hope we the fans will make sure the coaching staff is justly rewarded for their hard but great job they do in developing these young men into great young men equipped with education it will take to live a decent life in today’s dog eat dog squirrely world.