CHAPEL HILL - For 38 games, North Carolina running back Omarion Hampton has graced the UNC backfield, taking 622 handoffs from four different quarterbacks for 3,565 yards and 36 touchdowns.
Hampton’s 38th game, which came Saturday, was also likely his last in a Tar Heel uniform, as he finished with 263 total yards and two touchdowns in North Carolina’s 35-30 loss to NC State in the regular season finale at Kenan Stadium.
It wasn’t the ending the Tar Heels had in mind when sending off head coach Mack Brown, who was fired earlier in the week, but Hampton’s performance perfectly encapsulated his time in Chapel Hill.
His 185 rushing yards in 22 attempts marked the 10th-time this season he eclipsed the 100-yard mark, tying Don McCauley for the most 100-yard games in a season, and his 75-yard touchdown run in the third quarter was the longest rush of his career.
For the fourth time this season, Hampton rushed for 150-plus yards, becoming the first Tar Heel since Mike Voight in 1976-1977 to accomplish the feat four-or-more times in back-to-back seasons.
The junior from Clayton, NC, also caught four passes for 78 yards, including a 47-yard shovel pass catch-and-run for the go-ahead score with 1:51 remaining in the contest. Hampton’s outing reminded quarterback Jacolby Criswell that the All-American running back is unique.
“Just simple as can be, he’s that guy,” Criswell said after the game. “That’s all I can say. You can look that up and it’ll tell you exactly the type of person he is, the football player he is."
If you can’t take Criswell’s word for it, you can check both the UNC and ACC record books, which back up his assertion.”
Hampton’s performance propelled him over 1,500 yards on the ground this season, joining only Travis Etienne (Clemson), Dalvin Cook (Florida State), and Lamar Jackson (Louisville) as the only ACC players with back-to-back 1,500-yard seasons this century.
Hampton also moved into second all-time on UNC’s single-season rushing yards list with 1,660, trailing only McCauley, who gained 1,720 in 1970. McCauley broke O.J. Simpson’s national single-season record that fall.
The third-year back has tallied 19 career games with 100 or more rushing yards, tying Kelvin Bryant for the second-most in UNC history, and trailing only Amos Lawrence (25).
He has rushed for 3,565 yards across his three seasons with the Tar Heels, good for fourth in program history, and the most since Michael Carter’s 3,404 yards from 2017-2020.
With two touchdowns against the Wolfpack, Hampton has amassed 40 career scores, fewer than only Voight (42) and Leon Johnson (50), who each played four seasons in Chapel Hill.
His 240 total points rank eighth behind Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice and third-most among non-kickers.
If Hampton’s production on the ground isn’t enough, he has been an impactful pass catcher out of the backfield.
As a pass catcher, Hampton’s late-game burst gives him 635 yards and four touchdowns on 73 receptions for his career. It marked the second time in four games he recorded a receiving score.
The last two seasons for Hampton were among the best by a running back in program history, but his arrival to the college football world began in 2022. As a freshman, he became the first true freshman for North Carolina to run for over 100 yards in a game since Justice in 1946.
He began his career inside Kenan Stadium against Florida A&M, and 827 days later, he likely leaves as one of the most decorated running backs in UNC football history.
As the quiet, humble running back let his game do the talking with the Tar Heels, and it said quite a lot.
