Volume 1, Issue 2: Dylan Sampson Is Having To Do A Lot For No. 11 Tennessee
In today's issue, I wonder about the workload of Tennessee's feature tailback through six games.
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No. 11 Tennessee is 5-1 through the first half of the season. Only two games remain where the Volunteers will likely go into the ball game as a betting underdog — this Saturday against No. 8 Alabama and next month in Athens against No. 5 Georgia. If you’re a Vol fan reading this, you feel pretty good about winning at least nine games this season knowing that.
However, what if Tennessee wins 10 or more?
If the Vols win 10-plus games, the conventional wisdom is that Tennessee would make the College Football Playoff for the first time in school history. I think that’s right.
What I’ve been thinking about today, though, is what Tennessee’s running game might look like if the Vols take care of business down the stretch and make the CFP in December.
On this week’s episode of the ‘Tennessee Vols Sports Guys’ on my podcast, Rocky Top Insider’s Ryan Schumpert made a note about star junior running back that was completely off my radar — Sampson is already 19 carries away from tying former Vol star tailback Jaylen Wright in total carries from last season. Wright finished the 2023 campaign with 137 carries, and Sampson is at 118 right now with still half the season left to go.
That means two things: 1) Sampson is an extremely durable player for the Vols and 2) Sampson is doing so much for this offense right now.
Wright was the key cog of that Tennessee offense last season, as the Vols’ finished top-10 nationally in rushing offense. Sampson has not only been the key cog of this year’s Tennessee offense — he’s been an even bigger one than Wright was last season.
However, the 12-team CFP is here.
Tennessee is still in a good spot to reach it, especially if they beat the Crimson Tide on Saturday afternoon in Neyland Stadium. A thought I’ve had today, though, is when are we going to see head football coach Josh Heupel and running backs coach De’Rail Sims start to scale back Sampson’s workload?
One of the interesting subplots for the second half of this season for me is how Tennessee handles Sampson’s carries the rest of the way. Tennessee doesn’t want to be in a position where Sampson, the team’s best offensive player, is worn down by the time the CFP starts. If healthy, though, Sampson is on track to carry the football 150-plus times in the regular season this year.
With Cam Seldon, DeSean Bishop, Peyton Lewis and Khalifa Keith behind him, I wonder if and when we start to see Sampson’s usage start to slow down. In the previous two seasons, we saw the trio of Sampson, Wright and Jabari Small rotate early and often to conserve all three tailbacks. In 2021, Heupel’s first season, we saw a whole lot of Jabari Small and Tiyon Evans, similar to what we’ve seen in 2024 with Sampson and Bishop.
However, this team has CFP aspirations. Tennessee has close to a 50-percent chance of reaching the CFP right now, per ESPN’s Football Power Index.
Sampson has been the MVP of the offense this season and is a huge reason why the team is still in the CFP hunt in mid-October. Still, I wonder if we’re getting close to the point where the Vols have to consider the big picture a bit more and start expanding the running back rotation in the second half of the season in an effort to ensure the team’s offensive MVP is all systems go in the CFP if Tennessee does end up making it this year.
TODAY ON THE CHASE THOMAS PODCAST
Chase Thomas is the Sports Renaissance Man, Atlanta Sports Guy & VFL. On today's program, Chase is joined by Rocky Top Insider's Ryan Schumpert and Saturday Down South's Ethan Stone to talk Tennessee vs. Florida fallout, Chris Brazzell II having his best game as a Tennessee wide receiver, what's going on with Nico Iamaleava and the offense, what losing Keenan Pili for the season means for the defense, the upcoming very strange battle between the Vols and the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Host: Chase Thomas
Guests: Ryan Schumpert, Jack Foster
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Today Over At TPL Tennessee
On Tuesdays, I write about which Tennessee Volunteer earned a ‘Terrific Tennessee Spotlight’ from that weekend’s games.
This week STAR Boo Carter fits the bill.
Read a brief excerpt from the column below:
“Carter was all over the place. The Bradley Central alum had a PFF grade of 73.4 in run defense, 82.5 in tackling and 75.5 in pass rush against the Gators. Carter has been one of those players all season that just pops off the screen for the Vol fans watching at home. He simply doesn’t look like a true freshman in Banks’ defense. Carter is fearless rushing the quarterback off the edge and it resulted in a sack against the Gators along with seven total tackles, 1.5 TFLs along with a QB hurry.”
You can read the whole piece here: https://theplayerslounge.io/tennessee/content/articles/terrific-tennessee-tuesday-boo-carter-star-florida-impact-freshman
Make sure you’re also subscribed to the TPL Tennessee YouTube channel and hear from some of your favorite Tennessee Vol athletes each week.
Check out the latest episode featuring Tennessee Volunteers wide receivers Kaleb Webb and Dont’e Thornton Jr below.
Tennessee Vols Media Spotlight
Volquest’s Brent Hubbs wrote a really interesting piece today about Nico Iamaleava and the Tennessee offense that I think is worth your time.
In the piece, Hubbs included a quote from senior center Cooper Mays on Iamaleava that I thought was really interesting. Read the quote and the entire piece here.
HOMEFIELD APPAREL VOLS MERCH
Use CODE: VolsTPL15 for 15% OFF your first order, and stay tuned for announcements on event collabs with Homefield & TPL Tennessee!**
The TPL Tennessee Daily Column Schedule
Each day, I write a different column over at TPL Tennessee on the Tennessee Vols all year long.
MONDAY- 48 Hours After Tennessee Vols Recap
TUESDAY- Terrific Tennessee Spotlight
WEDNESDAY- Tennessee Vols Wednesday Wonder
THURSDAY- Know The Foe Vols Game Preview
FRIDAY- 3 Thoughts & 1 Prediction For The Tennessee Vols
SATURDAY- Instant Reaction To Latest Tennessee Vols Game
SUNDAY- Stock Report For The Tennessee Vols
The Chase Thomas Podcast Weekly Lineup
There are a lot of different ways to stay locked in on all the Tennessee Vols podcasting coverage I’m putting out every day.
Below is my weekly podcast lineup, so you always know what’s coming down the pike each day on the program. (Note: There are always surprise special Tennessee Vols guests that pop in throughout the week as well.)
MONDAY - A Pod Divided w/ Matt Green
TUESDAY - Tennessee Vols Sports Guys w/ Rocky Top Insider’s Ryan Schumpert, Saturday Down South’s Ethan Stone and Omaha Production’s Jack Foster
WEDNESDAY - More Important Issues w/ Landon Raby & Caleb Mitchell
THURSDAY - A Pod Divided w/ Matt Green
FRIDAY - TBA (STAY TUNED)
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(Final Note: All of this and more information on Knoxville’s No. 1 independent Tennessee Vols podcast is available over at the official website which you can find here.)
Make it a great Wednesday, everyone.
Best,
Chase
