Jerry Mack says improvement from Dylan Sampson is 'night and day'

Last season, Volunteer freshman running back Dylan Sampson flashed his electrifying speed before he even set foot on a field during a game. He was clocked at 23.0 miles per hour on the team’s Catapult system. He’s clearly one of the team’s fastest players and Sampson showed flashes as a freshman. Last year, he racked up 397 rushing yards and six touchdowns during his debut season with the Volunteers. While he impressed last year as a freshman, Tennessee running backs’ coach Jerry Mack recently said that Sampson has drastically improved his game in the past season.

Jerry Mack discusses the improvement of Dylan Sampson

“Really, it’s like night and day. From a protection standpoint, we all knew that Dylan had to come along and continue to grow just from a protection standpoint. You can see now where his eyes start, from a protection standpoint, the physicality that he does step up with, the power that he steps up with. Because he’s put on some weight. All that stuff, getting thrown into the fire last year at those certain moments, helped him develop. Helped him grow,” Mack said.

“When you look at him, he’s probably way further ahead than any guy that we’ve had here going into year two, to be honest with you. More so than Jabari [Small], Jaylen Wright, just for the simple fact that he got a chance to probably play more snaps and a little bit more success in big moments than anything else. And I think that’s really a compliment to why you wanna get those guys as much time as possible. On the field early,” Mack said.

“He didn’t come in the spring either. So, for him to come in, process the information, learn the system. Probably after about the 8th or 9th practice in fall camp last year, we knew he was gonna be a guy that could help us at some point in the season,” the Tennessee running backs coach said.

Sampson was a record-breaking running back coming out of Dutchtown High School (Dutchtown, Louisiana). He shattered Eddie Lacy’s school record for all-time rushing yards, racking up 4,927 rushing yards on 521 carries. He also broke the school’s single-game rushing yardage mark (287 yards) in October of 2021. In the 2022 recruiting cycle, Sampson was rated as a four-star prospect and the No. 31 overall running back in the nation, according to the On3 Industry Rankings.

Tennessee will open up their 2023 campaign in Nashville, Tennessee, where they will face the Virginia Cavaliers on Saturday, Sept. 2.