Tennessee running back Dylan Sampson announced on his Instagram account on Friday morning that he will forgo his senior season and enter the 2025 NFL Draft.

Sampson, the SEC offensive player of the year, finished the 2024 season with 1,491 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns. he finished his career with 2,492 and 35 touchdowns.

How does Sampson stack up?

The 2025 NFL Draft running back class is outstanding. So if you’re going to bet on yourself, you’d better have the goods. Dylan Sampson has the goods.

Even though Sampson entered the year decidedly behind most of this year’s top running backs, the breakout junior is probably a tick faster than former Tennessee speedster Jaylen Wright, who went in the fourth round to Miami last season. The competition for RB spots on the second day is going to be fierce, and Sampson has to ace the pre-draft workouts and interviews to confirm what we saw this year.

But he was seventh nationally in missed tackles forced and was a very effective gap runner despite his size. He only had one shot as a full-time starter and managed nearly 1,500 yards in the SEC. He also caught 40 passes in three years. The day-two running back candidate list just got better

(Photo: Jacob Kupferman / Getty Images)