Comment from Vols senior should ease any concern that RB Dylan Sampson is unhappy
Tennessee Vols sophomore running back Dylan Sampson didn't receive any carries in UT's loss to the Florida Gators, just a week after receiving only three carries against Austin Peay. After the loss to Florida, Sampson posted a photo on his Instagram story that had some fans and media members wondering if the Baton Rouge native […]
Tennessee Vols sophomore running back Dylan Sampson didn't receive any carries in UT's loss to the Florida Gators, just a week after receiving only three carries against Austin Peay.
After the loss to Florida, Sampson posted a photo on his Instagram story that had some fans and media members wondering if the Baton Rouge native is growing unhappy with his role in the offense.
On Monday, Vols head coach Josh Heupel said during his weekly press conference that the flow of the game is why Sampson didn't receive any carries against the Gators.
"He’s been a little nicked up but he was available," said Heupel. "We had plans of having him in the rotation and I think on both sides of the football the flow of the game, in particular in the first half, probably we didn’t rotate the way we anticipated going into the football game and probably as much as we needed to.”
Tennessee offensive coordinator Joey Halzle echoed those sentiments on Tuesday while also noting that Sampson knows how UT's coaches feel about him.
"Saturday night, obviously, Dylan didn't get enough on the field," said Halzle on Tuesday. "It is what it is. He knows what we think of him, what everybody thinks of him. That's an electric guy with the ball in his hands. We'll find ways to get that guy the ball, whether it's handing it to him, throwing it to him, using him in the screen game. Whatever it is, that's a guy that will have the ball in his hands."
Vols senior running back Jabari Small was specifically asked about Sampson on Tuesday and how the young running back is handling a diminished role over the last two weeks.
"Dylan, he's a leader on this team, he knows how it goes," said Small. "He's very mature for his age. He's not too worried about it. He had a great practice today (Tuesday). He was out there being vocal and he was a leader today."
As is often the case, a "cryptic" social media post turned out to not be a big deal at all.
And it sounds like Tennessee is committed to get Sampson more involved in the offense moving forward, which would be a wise decision considering he's a threat to create an explosive play every time he touches the ball.
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Featured image via Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
