Vols OC Assesses Duo of Freshmen Running Backs

Tennessee's running back room is in the exact spot it was in two weeks following the departure of Lyn-J Dixon. It is clear to see, and offensive coordinator Alex Golesh alluded to as much today.

While Dixon was a welcomed addition, he was a late addition, that almost immediately dealt with a nagging injury that kept hime down the depth chart, meaning, Tennessee was still going to have to rely on at least one of its freshmen running backs until Dixon was able to get up to speed.

Now, with Dixon gone, the Vols will undoubtedly work both freshmen backs as they see fit. Today, Golesh evaluated both Dylan Sampson and Justin Williams-Thomas.

"Dylan (Sampson), man, like a unique clone of Jabari (Small) in terms of being able to get the ball out in space, really, really good hands, elite vision for a young guy," Golesh said of the speedy Sampson. "Like, different than what I thought off of high school film. I liked the high school film – you just didn't know he was going to have vision like he has. He's a natural running back. He's not big, but he's as fast as any back in this league is going to be, so our job with him is going to be to get him in space and let him go hit home runs at whatever point that allows us to happen."

Williams-Thomas benefited from having spring practice as well, as he continues to evolve into the running back Tennessee wants him to be.

"Justin (Williams-Thomas), different back. Justin has had to evolve and grow into that role. He's bigger. He has learned how to play more physical. He's still learning how to play like a true big back, and his growth has been a little bit slower than Dylan, but he's shown monumental growth as well."

Despite showing flashes during preseason camp, there is still a learning curve for the freshmen and a hesitation to just thrust them into action.

"I still think, again, with any freshman, until they get in there under the lights and see what it actually is with no coaches on the field, it's really hard to guess what they're going to be, but he's shown really, really good steps to growing. I'm happy with where both of those guys are. I think they can both help us in different ways. Again, with a back like Dylan and Justin both being young guys, my main concern is always the protection part of it. There's no redos in protection on protecting the quarterback, so that's the biggest focal point for those guys is making sure they're good on the tempo which we play, picking up quarterback pressures and being able to protect the quarterback. If that part is good, those guys will both be able to help us a ton this year."

Tennessee is set to kickoff the season against Ball State on Thursday, September 1st against Ball State at 7pm ET on the SEC Network.