Dylan Sampson didn’t want to go to Tennessee. At least not at first.
“They were my second offer when I was a sophomore in high school, but they were off my list. I didn’t feel like it was a place I could grow and develop,” he said. “There was too much stuff going on.”
What stuff, exactly?
“You can look it up,” the running back from Geismar, La., said with a laugh. “We’re still dealing with the stuff from the last staff. It’s no disrespect or hate. We just never built a relationship after I got offered and I didn’t feel like they wanted me for real.”
When
Tennessee elected to fire Jeremy Pruitt after a tip ignited an internal investigation that uncovered multiple Level I
NCAA violations, Sampson’s view of the Vols changed. Tennessee hired Josh Heupel and in Sampson’s eyes, he gained another possible landing spot in the SEC.
He was still weighing his options on a visit in June 2021, when his host, then-sophomore Vols running back
Jabari Small, got a FaceTime call from his mom. They’d only been talking a few moments when Heupel walked by.
“Trina Small!” he said, addressing Small’s mom and talking for a few moments.
“That was small, but it showed to me how much he was valuing trying to build relationships. And they valued me, too,” Sampson said in an interview with
The Athletic this week.
When Tennessee was at its lowest point, fresh off hiring a coach some were hesitant to believe in, Sampson believed. He bought in when Heupel had only a vision.
Three seasons, 30 wins later and with a College Football Playoff game at Ohio State set for Saturday night, Sampson has proven integral in making that vision a reality. He enters the game owning five single-season school records and as the SEC Offensive Player of the Year.
