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CHAPEL HILL – At first glance, Willie Lampkin doesn’t much look like an offensive lineman for a power conference football team, or an FBS team regardless of its league.
He does, however, bear a strong resemblance to the other sport in which he has excelled. Lampkin wouldn’t look out of place in a wrestling singlet. That makes sense considering he was 47-0 in high school winning a state championship as a senior and finishing second as a junior.
But Lampkin very much is a football player, and once the ball is snapped and eyes are solely on him, the Lakeland, FL, native absolutely looks the part. The term “road grader” quickly comes to mind. He agrees.
“Yeah, it is,” Lampkin replied when asked if that was an apt description.
At just 5-foot-11 and 290 pounds, Lampkin is impossible to miss along the line of scrimmage next to North Carolina’s other linemen, who range between 6-foot-3 and 6-foot-7. He stands out before the ball is snapped, and then he stands out after it’s snapped. Lampkin is fueled by a chip that drives his feet, keeps him low, maneuvers defenders, and holds his block, often for as long is necessary.
“It’s not because I have to have the road grader mindset, it’s because being shorter, you have to work harder than most people,” Lampkin said about the chip that fuels his every second he’s on a football field. “I’m undersized as an offensive lineman; I don’t just have the size to be able to move guys out of the way.
“I actually have to work hard and study technique, study blocks, and study this and do that. And I have to do that to work hard and have success.”
Lampkin used the hand quotation gesture when he said “undersized.” Why?
“People always talk about my size; they always talk about size, they don’t talk about what I can do,” he said. “They always talk about I’m too small, too undersized to play at this level or any level. They said I was too small to play G5, which is okay.”
Lampkin is at a Power 5 school now, one that nabbed nine wins last season and is intent on more this coming fall. It also has one of the top commodities in college football in quarterback Drake Maye.
Maye is nearly 6-foot-5, some six inches taller than Lampkin, is a contender for the Heisman Trophy heading into the season, and he could be the top pick at the NFL Draft next season. UNC Coach Mack Brown and his staff are particular about who they would bring in to help protect Maye.
Lampkin, in spite of his size, fit the suit. He was the Sun Belt Conference Offensive Lineman of the Year last season playing for Coastal Carolina, and started all three seasons with the Chanticleers; two at guard and one at center. He is versatile and quickly won the respect and confidence of his new teammates and coaches in the spring.
“He’s tough, he’s physical,” Brown said. “We know he’s undersized but he makes up for that with his tenacity.”
And he can move his feet some. That is an attribute that cannot be understated, and it’s also clear when watching Lampkin do his thing.
He is agile, has terrific reflexes, excellent footwork, is strong; all attributes of a wrestler, to which he credits for some of his football success.
“It definitely helps me keep my leverage, keeps my feet going,” Lampkin said. “Because when you’re in a tie up, I don’t want to have my feet dead because if my feet are dead, I’m definitely getting taken down. And I don’t want to get taken down.
“So, I want to keep my feet moving so I can stay in the battle.”
And he’s really tough.
Lampkin dislocated two fingers during a practice in the middle of spring, but refused to take off a rep. The staff was going to have to yank him out of there. But nobody tried, and Lampkin stayed in, no matter the discomfort.
“It hurt real bad,” he said, laughing. “It hurt really bad. But I want to fight and I want to be tough.”
That sums up Lampkin. He plays bigger than he looks because he is better than he looks. And there is a sense deep down he kind of likes that. The element of surprise can be a good thing, and it’s something Lampkin will have to his advantage for the Tar Heels this fall.
