Sampson now stands alone in the record books

Dylan Sampson is no longer just a great player for Dutchtown. He’s now a Griffin legend.

His name will now be mentioned in the same breath as other Dutchtown all-time greats like Landon Collins and Eddie Lacy.

Lacy went on to play running back at Alabama, where he was first-team All-SEC and the MVP of the 2012-13 national title game. In the NFL, he was the 2013 Offensive Rookie of the Year for the Packers.

But as great as Lacy was when he was at Dutchtown, he never rushed for as many yards as Sampson has.

In last Friday night’s 42-33 road win over Ouachita Parish, Sampson broke two school rushing records.

He set a new Dutchtown record for most rushing yards in a single game with 287. Sampson also reached 4,300 career rushing yards, which broke the previous mark set by Lacy.

When Lacy found out that Sampson broke his old record, he made sure to send a tweet Sampson’s way. It read, “Nice work, young king. Records are meant to be broken.”

What makes the feat all the more impressive is the fact that in every game, all eyes are on Sampson. Head coach Guy Mistretta said, “Everybody’s going to try to key on him.” But yet, teams still can’t stop him.

So far, through the first four games, Sampson has rushed for 745 yards and 12 touchdowns.

He’s been putting up huge numbers ever since he took over as Dutchtown’s starter at running back as a sophomore in 2019.

In that season, Sampson rushed for 1,827 yards and 24 touchdowns. That was good enough to make him All-State and the Ascension Parish Offensive MVP.

Despite playing just eight games in 2020, Sampson rushed for 1,327 more yards with an additional 15 touchdowns. Again, he was named All-State and Ascension Parish Offensive MVP.

Sampson has been heavily recruited for the past two years. He’s received scholarship offers from a slew of schools that include Michigan State, Penn State, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Arkansas and N.C. State.

Back in June, he announced his commitment to Tennessee.

There is a lot to be excited about when it comes to Sampson.

GoVols 247 recruiting analyst Ryan Callan said this of Sampson: “The impressive thing about Sampson is that he doesn’t just have good straight-line speed--that’s not all that useful on the football field, unless he gets in the open field. He’s just a good football player who happens to be really fast. I think the Vols are pretty excited about having him at this point, and they should be. This is a nice pickup, in my opinion.”

Sampson is currently rated by 247Sports as a three-star prospect. The website ranks him as the 49th-best running back in the country and the 28th-best 2022 prospect in the state.

Rivals ranks Sampson the 22nd-best recruit in Louisiana.

Of course, with Sampson’s game-breaking speed, he has also excelled from the track. Last spring, he recorded a time of 10.48 in the 100-meter dash, the fastest 100 for anyone in the Baton Rouge area.

And Sampson’s record rushing total won’t be plateauing any time soon. The Griffins still have six regular-season games remaining, plus postseason contests. 

He’s currently on pace to finish the regular season with 1,860 yards, which would be a new career best.