Yes that Dylan. The 4th rounder, 12th back selected in the draft.
I’m not dumping on the kid. He was great for us but let’s not pretend he didn’t benefit from light boxes and getting the lions share of touches - especially near the goal line.
He holds a ton of Tennessee records but there’s probably 5-10 elite former Tennessee running backs I’d take over him when ranking the best backs in school history.
—- to help make my point - Hendon was elite here and we’ve not been able to replicate what he’s done since. Few QBs have played to his level in school history.
Our run game in previous years and going forward will be able to, for the most part, replicate what Sampson did. Just not by a singular individual most likely due to our tendency to rotate. Which we weren’t able to do entirely last year because of injuries to Lewis and Bishop.
interesting. My friendly refute:
1) 4th rounder 12th back selected in draft-- proceeds to use Hendon Hooker as the example of elite here (he absolutely was) but Hendon was also a 3rd rounder and has done diddly squat in the league thus far. Plenty agree Dylan's slide was unexpected but it was also a fairly stacked RB class. Regardless, the discussion is not his NFL projection but a retrospective on his career as a college football player.
2) light boxes-- This has been a common refrain on this website. The NFL draft smartguys mentioned it once and we ran with it. They mentioned it as a
generality but in fact, if you re-watch the games, we often faced a fairly stacked box in rushing downs, especially in SEC play (where Dylan dominated) once teams realized Nico was a high sack % target. See: Vandy, UGA, BAMA, UK, UF games if you need proof. In fact, we faced a heavier box on average than other teams if you take out the OU and Arkansas game where their gameplan was specifically a 3-2-6 light box. Interestingly, OU game was one of 3 total games he failed to eclipse 100 yards.
3) goal line touches-- staple of CJH/ any sane coach is to have your 5.8 ypc RB punch the ball in near the goal line. (???) I don't have any further retort on that one...
4) He holds a ton of Tennessee records-- Yeah, that guy was so good at football. Friggin awesome.
5) 5 to 10(that's a big swing) of backs you'd take over him?-- Well, sure. Gene McEver over Dylan Sampson, why not. We have had probably 15 or so ELITE running backs come through our school, Dylan Sampson being one of them. Not sure it will ever make sense to pick a running back over another since you have to take the style of play and context of the generation they are playing into consideration, but you do you.
6) replicating the success of an elite quarterback less than 3 years since he moved on from the program is a bit
soon, no?
7) Our run game in previous years and going forward will be able to, for the most part, replicate what Sampson did. Just not by a singular individual most likely due to our tendency to rotate. We agree here.
I dunnnooooo man I really agree w you on the quarterback issues but Dylan was a damn monstar last year
