ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit surprisingly hands out big compliment to key Tennessee Vols player
ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit isn't the most popular guy in East Tennessee thanks to some of his on-air quips about the Tennessee Vols. Two years ago, Herbstreit spread false rumors about Tennessee's locker room on national television (rumors that were essentially refuted by Vols head coach Josh Heupel). And earlier this season, Herbstreit (along with ESPN […]
ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit isn't the most popular guy in East Tennessee thanks to some of his on-air quips about the Tennessee Vols.
Two years ago, Herbstreit spread false rumors about Tennessee's locker room on national television (rumors that were essentially refuted by Vols head coach Josh Heupel). And earlier this season, Herbstreit (along with ESPN play-by-play man Chris Fowler) displayed a high level of unprofessionalism during Tennessee's game against Georgia when he poked fun at Vols players because a section of the team's heated benches weren't working. Herbstreit declined to mention, after taking an unprofessional (and bizarre) dig at Tennessee's players, that Georgia's players were using heated benches on their sideline.
Those are just a couple of reasons why Vols fans have been quite critical of Herbstreit in recent years.
And that's why it was a surprise that Herbstreit handed out a big compliment to a key Tennessee player this year.
During the annual "Herbie Awards" this week, Herbstreit singled out Vols junior running back Dylan Sampson as the most overlooked player in college football.
Naming anyone other than Sampson would've been criminal.
The Baton Rouge native just wrapped up the greatest regular season ever by a Vols running back, rushing for a program-record 1,485 yards and 22 touchdowns in 12 games. Sampson also caught 19 passes for 141 yards.
Despite the incredible level of production in the SEC (Sampson led the toughest conference in college football in rushing yards by almost 300!), Sampson wasn't a finalist for the Doak Walker Award (given to the nation's top running back each year) and he wasn't viewed as a player that was in the Heisman Trophy race (which is a conversation that's dominated by the national media).
I'm sure Sampson is happy to receive the acknowledgement from Herbstreit, but the running back's sole focus right now is undoubtedly on Tennessee's upcoming first round College Football Playoff game against the Ohio State Buckeyes.
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