On a weekend in which Tennessee's baseball program occupied center stage in Knoxville, the Volunteers made some noise in football, too.
Dylan Sampson, a three-star running back out of Dutchtown High School in Geismar, Louisiana, offered a nonbinding pledge Sunday morning to new Vols coach Josh Heupel. The 5-foot-10, 180-pounder met with Heupel at the end of his campus visit and revealed his decision.
"We went through academics," Sampson told 247Sports.com. "We went through tours. We went through resources. We talked the football talk and how I would fit in. I feel like this is the best place that can mold me into a young man and an athlete at the same time.
"I was really trying to take all my visits and kind of hold, but I just felt it. I felt like I was ready."
Sampson picked the Vols over scholarship offers from Louisville, Michigan State and Purdue, as well as the Southeastern Conference likes of Arkansas, Mississippi State, South Carolina and Vanderbilt.
According to the 247Sports composite rankings for the 2022 recruiting cycle, Sampson is the nation's No. 50 running back and the No. 602 recruit overall. Tennessee now has six commitments for 2022, with its crop ranking 38th in the country and 11th in the SEC.
Sampson ran a reported 10.48 seconds in the 100-meter dash earlier this year, and he told 247Sports that his speed grabbed the attention of new Vols running backs coach Jerry Mack.
"Right now, they said they don't really have my skill set in the room, with my speed and everything," Sampson said. "I feel like, if I work hard enough, I could come in and have an early playing role."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.