More Hampton is UNC's Offensive Mantra this Fall

CHAPEL HILL – What possibly can Omarion Hampton do for an encore this season?

He led the ACC and was fifth nationally in rushing last season with 1,504 yards. He scored 15 touchdowns rushing and one receiving. An easy first-team All-ACC selection, and mostly second-team All-America, though Hampton was named first-team by a few services, what is next for the powerful-yet-shifty junior?

"You have to look at who's your best player, and Omarion is one of the best players in the country...," UNC Coach Mack Brown said. "So, we've got to utilize him. We've got to fhe the ball to him on the corner more. I want him in space more."

Hampton is a man of few words. One new teammate joked in early March he thought Hampton had a “mute button” on his mouth preventing him from speaking.

The 6-foot, 220-pounder is loud on the field. And he’s a bull who’s compelled to run downhill every time he gets the ball.

Of his rushing yards last season, 1,072 came after contact. He had 18 runs that went 15 or more yards, 35 went 10 or more yards. Carolina racked up 76 first downs when Hampton ran the ball, and another 11 with him catching passes. That’s 87 first downs accumulated by one player.

Hampton became the first Tar Heel since Gio Bernard in 2011 to run for 100 yards or more in seven games, and his PFF grade was a near-unimaginable 88.7. Even his pass blocking grade went up, though it still needs refining.

A few other noteworthy items to paint the true picture of how efficient and effective Hampton was in 2023: He fumbled just three times in 254 carries; and he had 29 receptions on 32 targets.

The last stat shows how versatile Hampton is, and what Brown was alluding to with his comments about using Hampton more on the edge.

So, when asked about what might be different this coming season, Hampton followed that same path with his response.

“I feel like they can use me a lot more in the pass game, just do different things with me,” he said. “Spreading me around a little bit.”

Yet, the power and speed he runs with are the bread-and-butter of Hampton’s game.

So, ACC defensive coordinators might not like learning that Hampton isn’t the same dude he was last fall. The offseason mission was to elevate across the board. Literally.

He’s bigger, stronger, and faster.

“Yeah, that’s one of the things I’ve been working on,” Hampton said. “Just getting in the weight room, getting out on the field, just working hard trying to get better from last year.”

Center Austin Blaske spent the last few years at Georgia before transferring to UNC. He has seen what great college running backs look like up close. Hampton grabbed his attention right away, and hasn’t stopped.

“That dude is strong, probably the strongest running back I’ve ever seen, and we had some strong guys at Georgia,” Blaske said. “But he’s probably the strongest I’ve ever seen. The most explosive I’ve ever seen…

“He brings it every day. Runs with his head down like he’s not afraid to hit anybody on the field.”

Soft spoken and all, Hampton gladly runs over defensive players, sometimes looking like he angles at them intentionally.

It’s just his bulldog mentality meshed with unique skills. And this season, more stuff on the edge, surely a frightening proposition for anyone tasked with stopping or slowing the Clayton, NC, junior.