Dylan Sampson

Former running back at Tennessee. 2024: 1,491 rushing yards, 22 rushing TD, 20 catches.

RB · Tennessee · Jr. · #6

5′11″ · 201 lb · Baton Rouge, LA

CFB Index 85 · #12 of 310 RBsHigh confidenceAll-Conf 1st teamCleveland — drafted 2025, Rd 4, Pick 24, #126 overall

Recruiting

3★

RB recruit

No. 444 nationally · Signed with Tennessee

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

Former running back at Tennessee. 2024: 1,491 rushing yards, 22 rushing TD, 20 catches.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Tennessee in 2022.
Drafted round 4 by the Cleveland in 2025.
Named SEC Offensive Player of the Year in 2024.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Three seasons at Tennessee, 2,491 rushing yards, a first-team All-Conference season (2024) — drafted at #126 overall by Cleveland.

His career

Nobody recruited him. He earned the honors anyway.

20229 games

Signed with Tennessee3-star out of Dutchtown

202413 games

SEC Offensive Player of the Yearwinner
All-SECfirst

2025

Drafted by Clevelandround 4, pick 126

Career arc

Recruit

★★★

#444 national

CFB

College

Tennessee

2022–2024

NFL

NFL Draft

R4 · #126

Cleveland · 2025

Trophy case · Confirmed honors

What the selectors said

2 honors · 1 category

🥈

ALL-SEC · 1ST TEAM

All-SEC 1st team (2024)

Coaching lineage · 2022–2024

1 coach

2022–2024

Josh Heupel

Tennessee

Played his entire career under Josh Heupel.

Where He Ended Up · NFL

ClevelandEntering 2nd NFL season

#126Rd 4 · Pick 24

ClevelandEntering 2nd NFL season

View college career stats ↓

2024 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

3 seasons under Josh Heupel — 30-9 over that span.

2022Tennessee11-2HC: Josh Heupel · Run-leaning

2023Tennessee9-4HC: Josh Heupel · Run-leaning

2024Tennessee10-3HC: Josh Heupel · Run-heavy

Where this profile ranks vs the RB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

85All-Conference level #12 of 310?

High confidence13 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: td rate (91st percentile). Strength: rush tds (99th percentile). Concern: fumbles lost (1st percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

TD rate#42 / 442 · 91st pct

8.5%

Success rate#97 / 442 · 78th pct

51.6%

Yards / carry#126 / 442 · 72nd pct

5.8

EPA / carry#140 / 442 · 68th pct

0.25

Explosive rate#226 / 442 · 49th pct

6.6%

Box-score rates (8)

Rush TDs#3 / 335 · 99th pct

Rush yards#8 / 335 · 98th pct

1491

Carries#8 / 335 · 98th pct

258

Yards / carry#62 / 335 · 80th pct

5.8

Receptions#74 / 330 · 77th pct

Rec yards#98 / 330 · 70th pct

143

Long run#119 / 335 · 64th pct

Fumbles lost#202 / 204 · 1st pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / carry

59th → 68th percentile

Success rate

68th → 78th percentile

Explosive rate

38th → 49th percentile

Yards / carry

60th → 72nd percentile

TD rate

85th → 91st percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Situational

Situational · Carry shape (PBP, full season)

Yardage DNA

258 carries

Stuffed (≤0)

35%

Grind (1–3)

41%

Chunk (4–9)

15%

Explosive (10+)

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2024 season · 13 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	YPC	TD/g
Home7g	121	6.4	2.3
Road6g	108	5.4	1.0

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	YPC	TD/g
Weeks 1-77g	101	6.0	2.1
Weeks 8+6g	131	5.8	1.2

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Josh Heupel

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2024

All-Conference 1st team

First team in his league at the position.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

85 · #12 of 310 RBs

Three-star recruit. Now #12 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2024	Tennessee	258	1,491	5.8	22	--
2023	Tennessee	106	603	5.7	7	--
2022	Tennessee	58	397	6.8	6	--
Career		422	2,491	5.9	35	--

Season	Team
2024	Tennessee	20	143	7.2	0	--
2023	Tennessee	17	175	10.3	1	--
2022	Tennessee	3	24	8.0	0	--
Career		40	342	8.6	1	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 8 · 2024

W 24–17

vs Alabama

139 rush yds (26 car) · 2 TD

A wire-to-wire battle — won by 7 at home.

With N. Iamaleava — 194 yds · 1 TD · 1 INT · QBR 81.2 · 44 rush yds (9 car) · J. Ross — 46 AVG · 2 IN 20 · 49 LONG

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 10 · Kentucky · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA -4.24Dylan Sampson run for 6 yds to the UK 22 Dylan Sampson fumbled, recovered by UK Jamon Dumas-Johnson
Week 11 · Mississippi State · 2&10 · Q1 · EPA -4.17Dylan Sampson run for 5 yds to the MSST 7 Dylan Sampson fumbled, recovered by MSST Hunter Washington
Week 6 · Arkansas · 3&4 · Q3 · EPA +4.16Dylan Sampson run for 53 yds to the ARK 4 for a 1ST down
Week 8 · Alabama · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA -3.91Dylan Sampson run for 20 yds to the ALA 18 Dylan Sampson fumbled, forced by Malachi Moore, recovered by ALA Jihaad Campbell
Week 2 · NC State · 3&12 · Q3 · EPA +3.61Nico Iamaleava pass complete to Dylan Sampson for 21 yds to the NCSU 41 for a 1ST down
Week 7 · Florida · 3&20 · Q4 · EPA +3.28Dylan Sampson run for 20 yds to the TENN 48 for a 1ST down
Week 8 · Alabama · 2&6 · Q3 · EPA +3.28Dylan Sampson run for 36 yds to the ALA 38 for a 1ST down
Week 1 · Chattanooga · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +2.97Dylan Sampson run for 56 yds to the UTC 5 for a 1ST down
Week 11 · Mississippi State · 1&10 · Q3 · EPA +2.90Dylan Sampson run for 33 yds for a TD (Max Gilbert KICK)
Week 7 · Florida · 4&1 · Q3 · EPA +2.87Dylan Sampson run for 6 yds for a TD (Max Gilbert KICK)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2024 season · 13 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 69-3vs Chattanooga	12	124	10.3	3	56	3 rushing TDs
Wk 2	W 51-10@ NC State	20	132	6.6	2	34
Wk 3	W 71-0vs Kent State	13	101	7.8	4	22	4 rushing TDs
Wk 4	W 25-15@ Oklahoma	24	92	3.8	1	16
Wk 6	L 14-19@ Arkansas	22	138	6.3	2	53
Wk 7	W 23-17vs Florida	27	112	4.1	3	23	3 rushing TDs
Wk 8	W 24-17vs Alabama	26	139	5.3	2	36
Wk 10	W 28-18vs Kentucky	27	142	5.3	2	17
Wk 11	W 33-14vs Mississippi State	30	149	5.0	1	33
Wk 12	L 17-31@ Georgia	19	101	5.3	1	27
Wk 13	W 56-0vs UTEP	11	77	7.0	1	14
Wk 14	W 36-23@ Vanderbilt	25	178	7.1	0	28	Season-high 178 yds
Bowl	L 17-42@ Ohio State	2	6	3.0	0	3
Total		258	1491	5.9	22	56

How he plays

Play style

Cuts upfield fast. Designed to find the crease, not run through the line.

CFB Index positional classification

Boom vs consistent · carry-yardage shape

Steady, not spectacular

fact

258Carries

1502Yards

14.1%Top-5 share

8.5%Stuffed rate

Just 14.1% of his season rushing yards came on his 5 best carries — remarkably even — and he's stuffed on 8.5% of his carries. 2 carries for 6 yds vs Ohio State; 25 for 178 vs Vanderbilt.

Closer · Q4-with-lead carry share

The closer

~ our read

46.4%Carry share

36.8%Q4-lead share

95.9%In competitive games

46.4% of carries overall (254/547) → 36.8% of Q4-with-lead carries (49/133) — 95.9% of those in competitive (≤16-pt) games.

Short-yardage / goal-line · enumeration

Who gets the tough yard

fact

21/243rd/4th & short

16/33Inside-5 share