Tennessee football: Lyn-J Dixon leaving Vols sets up Dylan Sampson to shine

For the second straight year, all the chips are falling into place when it comes to a Tennessee football freshman all-purpose back becoming a breakout star. Just as it was Jaylen Wright down the stretch of last season, Dylan Sampson is primed to do the same this year.

Barely than two weeks after joining the Vols, Clemson Tigers transfer Lyn-J Dixon is no longer with UT, first reported by Austin Price of VolQuest. Dixon committed to the Vols after they lost Len’Neth Whitehead to a season-ending injury.

The move didn’t seem to make sense from the start when you consider the fact that Dixon is an all-purpose back and Whitehead is a power back. With Jaylen Wright already on Tennessee football’s roster, Dixon provided proven talent but didn’t seem to fill any void.

Without him, though, the door has swung open for Sampson to become a breakout star. Wright is battling an injury right now. Dixon was battling one as well before leaving the program, and that resulted in Sampson, a three-star in UT’s 2022 recruiting class, seeing more action than initially expected in practice.

Already, Sampson has been turning heads with what he can do when he has the ball in his hands. Now that Dixon is gone, he’s got a great chance to fight his way into the rotation. The question is whether or not Josh Heupel and Jerry Mack will have faith in him.

Last year, Wright didn’t really get going consistently until November, after Tiyon Evans got hurt and then entered the transfer portal. Given the fact that he has a similar profile, you have to wonder if Sampson will have to wait the same amount of time.

Of course, Justin Williams-Thomas is another freshman in this class. He was a more highly-touted recruit, he’s more of a feature back, and he was an early enrollee. Given the lack of depth emerging at running back, he could become a co-starter for Tennessee football with Jabari Small.

However, Small is the clear-cut star there. It’s not as obvious at this point who the all-purpose back will be. With Dixon gone and Wright banged up, Sampson is the only option. The job is Wright’s when he’s fully healthy, but all of this suggests Sampson could be a breakout freshmen star for UT.

To be fair, the big winner in this is Small if you’re wondering about individual accolades. As we reported last week before Dixon even left the program, the injuries at running back have already set Small up to have a historic season with the Vols.

Now that Dixon is gone, Wright is banged up and Whitehead is still out, Small is more destined than ever to potentially break records. He’s also got more pressure on him than ever, as Mack and Alex Golesh are going to need him a lot more than they thought.

Still, Sampson appears to be another winner out of this. It seems that at least early in the season, Tennessee football will relay on him for specific plays and situations. For a guy who was a three-star and not an early enrollee, that’s pretty impressive.