De'Rail Sims mostly knew what he was getting in Dylan Sampson.
When Sims arrived at Tennessee as its new running backs coach last winter, it was reunion with the Vols' top returning rusher Sampson, who had recruited in high school when he was at Louisville.
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Sims was eager to be Sampson's position coach. He had watched him from afar and then on film as Sampson moved up the depth chart last season, playing behind 1,000-yard rusher Jaylen Wright and now in position to headline Tennessee's backfield.
But there was something else Sims picked up on in the first couple of spring practices, something that surprised him and offered one of the earliest indications of the kind of season that Sampson was about to have.
"To be honest, the physicality portion of it (surprised him about Sampson)," Sims said. "To be able to see him go in there, you see him now going in from a pass protection standpoint; when he goes in there, he is aggressive and he's attacking. As many tackles as he breaks when he's running the ball, you always know about the explosiveness aspect. You always knew about him being able to make people miss. When you see him inside the line of scrimmage and the box, as many tackles as he breaks and as many yards as he's gaining after contact, that's the part about his game where I knew that he was taking his game to another level.
"Anything else from a personality standpoint, a work ethic standpoint, I already knew about that. He's awesome."
Sampson is a near-every down back for Tennessee. He wouldn't leave the field at all if it was up to him.
Through 11 games, Sampson leads the SEC in rushing with 1,307 yards and a program-record 22 touchdowns. Every time he touches the ball now he's either about to break another record or nearing one.
"It's one of those situations where you have to cross that bridge hopefully when you get there," Sims said. "The biggest deal is that it's been a blessing to coach him, see his progression all year long and how hungry he's been. Not hungry from the standpoint of being on the field and wanting to be a play-maker but also a hunger standpoint in terms of wanting to be a leader. Wanting to bring the younger guys along in the room, even at practice. Watching him coach up the younger guys has been phenomenal. I think the number one deal is they see the traits that he has.
"They see his leadership characteristics and they see what hard work does for you. He's a prime example of that, which has been good."
Sampson has carried the Vols' offense to the doorstep of the College Football Playoff, too.
Tennessee enters the final week of the regular season in reach of the playoff. The Vols need to beat Vanderbilt on Saturday (Noon ET, ABC) in Nashville to get them there.
Their best chance will again likely come from Sampson again, who has time and again this season pulled Tennessee from almost assured defeat to triumph.
It hasn't been enough to impress the national award pollsters, who snubbed Sampson by not including him among the three finalists for the Doak Walker Award this week. In fact, Sampson's contributions haven't seemed to get the praise they deserve nationally.
Those contributions haven't been lost on Sims, though.
"He is the best back in the country in my opinion," Sims said. "In terms of the production that he's been able to do, especially in this league. Being able to be with him every single day, the way he goes about and attacks the process. The things that he's been able to do from a tenacity standpoint, in terms of if the team needs a spark, he's able to be jump-starter.
"Coach (Josh) Heupel says all the time, it only takes one match to start a fire. When we get in critical situations, he's that guy that starts the fire."
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