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Sampson sees ‘opportunities’ for Vols against stingy Ohio State defense

Tennessee Athletics photo by Andrew Ferguson / Tennessee junior running back and Southeastern Conference offensive player of the year Dylan Sampson said Monday that this may be the best he's felt all season heading into Saturday night's College Football Playoff matchup at Ohio State.
Tennessee Athletics photo by Andrew Ferguson / Tennessee junior running back and Southeastern Conference offensive player of the year Dylan Sampson said Monday that this may be the best he's felt all season heading into Saturday night's College Football Playoff matchup at Ohio State. Tennessee Athletics photo by Andrew Ferguson / Tennessee junior running back and Southeastern Conference offensive player of the year Dylan Sampson said Monday that this may be the best he's felt all season heading into Saturday night's College Football Playoff matchup at Ohio State.

By David Paschall 5 min read

Tennessee running back Dylan Sampson has left his mark on the program and the Southeastern Conference this season.

Now he’s ready to go national along with his fellow Volunteers this Saturday night (8 on ESPN) when they face Ohio State in Columbus in the most anticipated of the four first-round pairings in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff.

“This is everything we worked for in the offseason,” Sampson said Monday afternoon in a news conference. “This was what we expected. This was what we grinded for, and it doesn’t stop now.

“It wasn’t the goal just to get to this game.”

The 5-foot-11, 201-pound junior from Baton Rouge was named last week as the SEC offensive player of the year, and with very good reason. Sampson set Tennessee single-season records with 1,485 yards and 22 touchdowns, and it wasn’t because he feasted mostly on the cupcake portion of the schedule.