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CHAPEL HILL - Entering the 2024 season, North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton was heralded as one of the best running backs in the country, and rightfully so.
But, after the junior workhorse exited Saturday’s 38-20 win over Charlotte due to injury, the Kenan Stadium faithful were introduced to another talented member of the Tar Heel backfield.
Freshman Davion Gause, better known as ‘Bullet’ amongst the locker room, relieved Hampton, rushing for a career-high 105 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. His rushing total surpassed Charlotte’s entire rushing attack of 49 yards.
Gause put an exclamation point on his performance in the third quarter, as his one yard scamper capped off UNC’s 11-play, 85-yard drive, and ballooned the lead to 38-13.
“He’s really cool, he’s mature, he’s tough. He is not emotional at all. We’ve seen that in the spring, we’ve seen it every day in practice,” UNC Coach Mack Brown said. “When you put him in a situation, he looks like an older player.”
Despite not recording an offensive snap in the season-opener at Minnesota, though he saw action on some special teams, Gause was tasked with commanding the backfield in the second half, when he became the first UNC true freshman to eclipse the 100-yard mark on the ground since his counterpart Hampton against Georgia State in 2022.
It was an unexpected assignment, but one Gause aced thanks to position coach Larry Porter.
“Coach Porter prepared all of the running backs at practice to handle the workload,” Gause said. “If one person goes down, the next man goes up. He got us ready for the big moments.”
Gause’s big moment took place in his first collegiate appearance and first game in Kenan Stadium, but his journey to the Tar Heel backfield began back in December 2020 in Miami Gardens.
As a sophomore in high school, Gause attended the top-25 matchup between UNC and Miami in 2020, in which Javonte Williams and Michael Carter set an NCAA record by rushing for a combined 544 yards.
While the win would cement the Tar Heels’ spot in a New Year’s Six Bowl, it unknowingly secured a commitment from a highly coveted back in Gause.
“He was recruited by everybody, and I said,’why’d you come here?’” said Brown. “He said when he was a sophomore, he went to the Miami game where you all played and Javonte Williams and Michael Carter ran up and down the field and he said, ‘I want to play there.”
A 4-star recruit out of Chaminade Madonna HS in Hollywood, FL, Gause enrolled at UNC in January, slated to backup the All-American Hampton.
Coming from a pro-style offense in high school, he was ready to hit the ground running in Chapel Hill.
“I had to get used to the speed. But, as camp went on, I felt like I was college ready,” said Gause. “I just stayed consistent, kept my head down, and kept working.”
As Saturday showcased both the present and future of the Tar Heel backfield, Brown was reminded of the similarities between the veteran Hampton and the rookie Gause.
“He’s a lot like Omarion in that he never speaks. That room doesn’t speak,” said Brown. “It’s like a bunch of guys just sitting in there watching video, maybe they got sign language or something.”
With a running back room filled with an All-American in Hampton and a budding star in Gause, perhaps their game is what speaks for them both.
