After taking a few days to reflect on the Tennessee Vols' 29-16 loss to the Florida Gators, I think it's fair to say that the UT Football program made an inexcusable mistake in Gainesville. 

Sophomore running back Dylan Sampson's lack of usage against Florida has been a big topic the last couple of days. 

Sampson received zero carries against the Gators, despite being one of the most electric players on Tennessee's roster. 

Vols head coach Josh Heupel suggested on Monday that Sampson, who was available according to Heupel, wasn't a factor against Florida because of the "flow" of the game. 

"We had plans of having him in the rotation," said Heupel. "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 offered a similar comment on Tuesday when asked about Sampson's non-usage against Florida. 

"Saturday night, obviously, Dylan didn't get enough on the field," said Halzle. "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." 

At first, I accepted the explanations from Heupel and Halzle that Sampson didn't see any carries because of the flow of the game.

Tennessee wasn't able to run the ball as much against Florida as they were in the season-opener against Virginia. The Vols ran the ball 42 times against Virginia and Sampson received 13 of those carries. 

Against Florida, Tennessee ran the ball only 24 times, which seemingly explains why Sampson didn't touch the ball more. 

That explanation, however, isn't sufficient. 

And fans can look at Florida for an example of why it's a horrible explanation. 

The Gators didn't forget to get sophomore running back Trevor Etienne into the game. 

Instead, they put the ball in the hands of their electric playmaking running back from Louisiana 23 times on Saturday night. And Etienne proceeded to rush for 172 yards and a touchdown. 

Tennessee, meanwhile, elected to keep their electric playmaking running back from Louisiana on the bench — despite the fact that he's a threat to score every time he touches the ball. 

Imagine Napier just forgetting or not getting around to getting Etienne in the game for some touches.

You can’t can you? Because it wouldn’t happen.

— Erik Reed (@ErikReed) September 20, 2023

It's understandable that Tennessee wanted to put the ball in junior running back Jaylen Wright's hands. Wright has shown a lot of improvement this season after having a solid sophomore year in 2022. The Durham, NC native has displayed improved patience, which has led to bigger gains. Wright has also shown an impressive ability to break tackles while picking up extra yards. He should absolutely be a focal point of the offense. 

But playing senior running back Jabari Small over Sampson at this point seems like a scenario where Tennessee is showing loyalty to an upperclassman instead of getting their best playmakers on the field. 

(Small is a good player and I think he's been underrated at Tennessee, but he's just not as electric as Sampson….very few players are.)

Small might be better in pass protection, and that's certainly important, but Sampson is still a player that has to be on the field in a game against a rival. It's a situation where it's up to the offensive staff to just figure out a way to get him on the field. 

And considering how involved running backs have been in Tennessee's passing game this season as opposed to last season, it makes it even more curious as to why the Vols aren't playing Sampson more. 

Even though Tennessee was having trouble running the ball against Florida, they still could've found a way to get Sampson involved in the passing game. 

I'm sure there will be some fans who scream "trust the coaching staff" on decisions like this. And while I think the staff deserves trust after last season, I can't find a reason that makes sense to keep Sampson on the bench. 

Sampson scored four touchdowns in the season-opener against Virginia. And he's seen four touches in two games since. 

That's simply not acceptable. 

Sometimes good coaching staffs make mistakes. And it was obviously a mistake to not play Sampson, a player who could've been a difference-maker in Gainesville. 

I don't think it's a "red flag" for Tennessee's coaching staff — they're far from the first staff to make this type of mistake and they won't be the last — but it's something they have to get fixed. If there's one criticism of Tennessee's current coaching staff that feels legitimate, it's that they seem too timid to play young guys while other programs seemingly are finding success by getting their young talent on the field. 

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