KNOXVILLE — It was an era that was somehow shorter than Kevin Steele’s brief stint in Knoxville. At the beginning of August, Lyn-J Dixon was a Vol. As of a week ago, that ship has sailed. What gives?

Dixon spent 3 good years at Clemson, transferring to West Virginia in 2021 and jumping ship before playing a snap. He totaled over 1,400 yards rushing with 13 rushing touchdowns in 41 games as a Tiger, an average of around 34 yards per game.

A few weeks ago, Tennessee’s likely third back on the depth chart, Len’Neth Whitehead, was declared out for the season following an offseason upper-body injury. Whitehead is a tough loss for Tennessee from a depth perspective. The Vols now only have 4 scholarship backs on their roster. To add insult to injury, 2 are true freshmen.

Dixon’s addition was a depth move to address the loss of Whitehead. Head coach Josh Heupel said so himself after seeing him in practice just after his commitment to Tennessee.

“With Len’Neth being out for the season because of the injury, I felt like it was important that we continue to try to look for and add another body in that room if there was one available that fit what we were going to need,” Heupel said. “Since he’s gotten in, he’s in a race to understand and learn what we’re doing as fast as we possibly can.”

Dixon has more skill than Whitehead, but that’s all he was ever going to be in Alex Golesh’s system. A third-string guy. Whitehead, in his one year of action, rushed for 207 yards and a pair of touchdowns across six games, for an average identical to Dixon’s at Clemson – 34.5 yards per game. At his best (in 2019), Dixon was a 42.5 yards per game type of player. In 2020 his snaps from 2019 faltered, seeing just 190 yards rushing across 42 attempts.

The 5-10, 195-pound Dixon doesn’t have a specific skillset that Tennessee didn’t already have, either. Small is a more dominant rusher, Wright is shifter, and practice reports convey that Sampson and Williams-Thomas are more than capable of being the speed backs and bruiser backs, respectively, that they were brought on to be moving forward. Sure, it’d be nice to have a guy like Dixon, a veteran, all-around type of presence just in case things go south injury-wise, but Tennessee’s game-to-game attack will be the same as it was going to be before Dixon joined the program in early August.

Let’s touch on Williams-Thomas and Sampson, by the way. The Whitehead and Dixon news pretty much commands contribution from both in Year 1, and each have a lot to bring to the table.

Tennessee released its depth chart for the 2022 season Monday, naming Jabari Small as the starter with Wright, Sampson and Williams-Thomas filing in behind. Sampson, thanks in part to his undeniable SEC speed, could be dangerous in Tennessee’s system.

There has been a buzz about Sampson since preseason camp began in early August. The 3-star back may be less valued by a composite ranking but running backs coach Jerry Mack thinks he’ll be a fan-favorite before you know it.

“He’s done a great job,” Mack said of Sampson. “He’s kind of a fan favorite right now in the building with his attitude, personality, which we knew when we recruited him. Every day he comes out there, it seems like he does something really good with the ball in his hands. Explosive plays. We talked about him being a guy that was going to have those sexy runs, those long, explosive runs, and he’s held true to form.”

OK, so there’s a speed back that has turned heads in an offense that was among the quickest in the nation last season. But who is going to replace Whitehead as a power back should Small go down?

That’s where Williams-Thomas comes in. The 6-2, 210-pound back gives Tennessee that bruiser mentality it needs desperately right now as a fourth string option. The Vols were uber talented at everything offensively except converting on third down last season, and Williams-Thomas is at the very least another answer.

Let’s address the elephant in the room: Wright. He started to really hit his stride toward the end of last season but remains banged up heading into Week 1 against Ball State. He’s considered full-go in practice as of last week (Aug. 23), but it’s a concerning reality nonetheless if you’re a Tennessee fan who saw the problems the Vols had with injuries in 2021. At one point, Tennessee dipped into its 5th string (Marcus Pierce) just to keep the chains moving.

It’s worth noting that Tiyon Evans was part of that problem last season. The highly successful back transferred in the middle of the season, not exactly unfounded but still an outlier in terms of how athletes handle these decisions. With no Evans and injury issues with Small and Wright all at once, Pierce had to step in for 32 carries.

Let’s remember that we are still talking about a head coach and offensive coordinator who developed a system to break a wide variety of single season offensive records in Tennessee football history. There’s plenty to be nervous about regarding Tennessee football this season, but Tennessee’s rushing attack will be just fine.