Tennessee Football will have its share of challenges and obstacles on the offensive side of the ball this year, but the running back room has been a steady reason for optimism throughout fall camp. Even though the Vols have to replace a record-setting running back like Dylan Sampson, the Vols’ trio of running backs who are primed for the 2025 season could be one of the most underrated aspects of the team here in the preseason.
While we still don’t know what the rotation will look like, who will have the starting nod, or who will have the final carries of each game, Tennessee’s three leading candidates include redshirt sophomore DeSean Bishop, senior Duke transfer Star Thomas, and sophomore Peyton Lewis. That’s also not including a pair of talented freshmen with Daune Morris and Justin Baker, plus a veteran like Hunter Barnes.
Splitting up those carries won’t be easy, but running backs coach De’Rail Sims identifies that as a good problem to have.
“It’s a good problem because I think competition never lets you be complacent,” Sims said on Tuesday. “We talk about it all the time. Good is the enemy of great.”
Sims has an up-close look at the competition in that room every day. That room, by the way, holds a high bar. Lewis said on Tuesday that he feels the standard of having previous record-holders, such as Jaylen Wright and Sampson, set the tone for the room in previous seasons.
“Absolutely,” Lewis said. “I mean, Coach has mentioned this. The ground is the standard. The ceiling is where we need to be. So, I see it as (the) two guys before me, All-SEC. Why not me?”
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In a position where usually only one is on the field, competition is one of the most important things to have. There’s a level of brotherhood in the room from the players, but it won’t reach the heights it can without those guys pushing each other, as well as themselves.
“When you got a whole room, and it’s not just those three guys (Bishop, Thomas, Lewis), as well, you sit up there and you look at them two freshmen that we got in Daune Morris and Justin Baker, they don’t want to take a backseat to anybody,” Sims said. “So they’re competing their tails off as well. So everybody in the room, including Hunter Barnes as well, I mean, you got six guys in that room who are competing their tails off to go play. So I can’t have an off day, you know what I’m saying? It can’t be one of those days that I’m not bringing my A-game. I got to be an A-player every single day when I got a deep room in the way that we do.”
There’s still a mystery about how they’ll be used this season. Previous running backs coach Jerry Mack had a bigger rotation than Sims did in 2024, but Mack also didn’t have SEC Offensive Player of the Year Dylan Sampson firing on all cylinders. The snap count is something that’s yet to be seen, but Sims says that the rotation is something that’ll work itself out during the leadup to each game.
“The rotation takes care of itself during the week in terms of who’s competing,” Sims said. “Who has the less (missed assignments), who’s doing a really good job protecting the football, protecting the quarterback and who’s being highly productive. I think going by that in the game, it kind of always sorts itself out. You know, you always kind of got a plan. I know last year, Dylan (Sampson) was in the first two series and then (DeSean Bishop) came in the third series. Not necessarily saying it’ll be that way this year. I think it kind of works its way through.”
Tennessee running back Star Thomas is eager to get his chance on the field with the Vols after transferring in from Duke this offseason. Sims referred to him as a “complete back” on Tuesday, highlighting his various traits that make him so effective at the position. Thomas has been competing hard this fall while also lifting his teammates up in the process.
“It’s great,” Thomas said on Tuesday about the competition in the running backs room. “It’s great. I mean, I love the competition. I love how we all come in every day with our head down, ready to work. I like how it’s competition in the room. Nobody’s coming in with a – I mean, we all got an ego to be better and push each other, but when one messes up, it ain’t like nobody’s praying on somebody to mess up. We’re the first ones right there to tell them, make them get it right. So, I like that. The most important thing about it.”
Speaking with the running backs on Tuesday and seeing their work throughout fall camp leaves a new sense of optimism about the offense. While Tennessee’s passing attack still has questions to be answered in terms of the weekly quarterback and the health of the wide receiver room, it sounds like the Vols’ running backs are ready to shoulder the load of whatever situations they need to in order to keep the chains moving and the offense going forward.
Tennessee has a trio of strong options with more waiting on the bench. There’s still an unknown as to who or how they’ll be used, but as Sims said on Tuesday, that’s a good problem to have. It shows depth at a critical position for an offense that will need to be explosive on the ground this season.
