Omarion Hampton (born March 16, 2003) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

for the

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to individuals from the state of North Carolina, the ''Tar Heel ...

Early life

Hampton was born in

Clayton, North Carolina Clayton is a town in Johnston County, North Carolina, United States, and is considered a satellite town of Raleigh. As of 2010, Clayton's population was 16,116, up from 6,973 at the 2000 census. By 2019 the town's estimated population was 24,887. ...

. He attended Cleveland High School and played football as a

from 2018 to 2021. After rushing for 335 yards as a

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

, he had his best season as a

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...

in 2019, being one of the best running backs nationally as he totaled 2,402 rushing yards and 35

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

s; he ran for over 100 yards in all but one of their games. Hampton ran for 685 yards and 13 touchdowns in the spring 2021 season as a

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

, although he missed significant time due to an ankle injury. As a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

, he ran for 1,949 yards and 39 touchdowns (having scored a total of 43 touchdowns), averaging 162.4 rushing yards-per-game as he helped Cleveland reach the state playoffs with a record of 11–1. He was named the

Gatorade Gatorade is an American brand of sports-themed beverage and food products, built around its signature line of sports drinks. Gatorade is currently manufactured by PepsiCo and is distributed in over 80 countries. The beverage was first develop ...

North Carolina Football Player of the Year and the winner of the state's Mr. Football award. Ranked a four-star recruit, he committed to play

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the

College career

Hampton saw immediate playing time as a true freshman in 2022, recording 101 rushing yards and two touchdowns in his collegiate debut against the

Florida A&M Rattlers The Florida A&M Rattlers represent Florida A&M University (FAMU) in college athletics. Florida A&M is a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference and participates in NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). FAMU offers men's s ...

, becoming the first true freshman for North Carolina to run for over 100 yards in a game since Charlie Justice in 1946. Two games later, he ran for 110 yards and scored game-tying and go-ahead touchdowns against the

Georgia State Panthers The Georgia State Panthers are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent Georgia State University, located in Atlanta, Georgia. Almost all GSU teams compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as mem ...

, being named

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

(ACC) Rookie of the Week. He finished the season having appeared in 13 games, four as a starter, and tallied 88 rush attempts for 401 yards and six touchdowns, in addition to six receptions for 40 yards and another score. In the second game of the 2023 season, Hampton ran 26 times for 234 yards and three touchdowns against

Appalachian State Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dough ...

, being named the

Doak Walker Ewell Doak Walker II (January 1, 1927 – September 27, 1998) was an American football player. He played college football as a halfback at Southern Methodist University (SMU), where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1948. Walker then played professi ...

National Running Back of the Week. He continued his strong performance throughout the season, finishing the season with 1,504 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns. For his performance, he earned first-team All-ACC honors, and was named a finalist for the

Doak Walker Award Since 1990 the Doak Walker Award honors the top running back in college football in the United States. It is named in honor of Doak Walker, a former running back who played for the SMU Mustangs from 1945 to 1949 and in the National Football League ...

. Hampton was also named to several All-America teams, being named a second team All-America by the AP and Sporting News, and first-team by the Walter Camp Football Foundation. In the Tar Heels' season-ending loss to

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

in the

Duke's Mayo Bowl The Duke’s Mayo Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that has been played at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, since 2002. The game currently features a matchup between a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) ...

, he passed

Elijah Hood Elijah Hood (born April 22, 1996) is a former American football running back. He played college football at North Carolina Tar Heels football, North Carolina. Early years Hood attended Charlotte Catholic High School in Charlotte, North Carolina ...

for second-most rushing yards in a single Tar Heel season.

Statistics

References

External links

North Carolina Tar Heels bio
2003 births Living people American football running backs People from Clayton, North Carolina Players of American football from North Carolina North Carolina Tar Heels football players {{runningback-2000s-stub