Cleveland High football star and UNC recruit Omarion Hampton is as humble as he is good
There are more than 400 high schools playing football in North Carolina, but few if any can match Cleveland High for entertainment value.
Friday nights in the Johnston County community are a dazzling display of cheering fans, marching bands, and long touchdown plays.
The Rams went 10-1 during the spring season, averaged 45 points a game, and could have scored another 20 or 25 points a contest if head coach Scott Riley and his staff wanted.
And the star of this nearly point-a-minute show is a humble, soft-spoken running back whose coach calls him a “once-in-a-lifetime” athlete.
Omarion Hampton, who once gave soccer a try, is a 6-1, 221-pound running back and linebacker who is a threat to score any time he touches the ball.
In the 2019 season, Hampton ran the ball 250 times. Thirty-five of those carries ended with Hampton in the end zone.
“Omarion works hard — very hard,” Riley said. “And he pushes the other kids. He tries to improve everyone’s work ethic.
“But at the end of the day, he’s a humble, likable young man.”
Quietly doing his job
It seems as if nearly everyone in the southwest Johnston County community has a story to tell about seeing Omarion Hampton on the football field. A man and a woman in a sandwich shop not far from Cleveland High recalled seeing him in a game last spring against Smithfield-Selma.
The woman said it seemed as if Hampton scored on every carry.
Actually, he scored on just four of his nine carries.
Hampton is a big reason why college coaches from around the country flocked to Cleveland High the past two seasons. Riley told his assistant coaches that the spotlight being focused on the Rams was unusual. He told them not to get used to it.
You’d never know that, talking to Hampton.
“I am just trying to be a better leader,” he said. “We want to get back to where we were last spring, and to go one step further. I am trying to help be the leader.”
The Rams made it to the 3AA state championship game in the spring, losing 24-16 to Mount Tabor. But most of the spring season was played with Hampton on the sidelines.
He sprained his left ankle in his team’s 34-27 victory over rival Clayton on March 26. He was done for the season.
“We have a lot of really good players on this team,” he said, explaining how the Rams, led by quarterback Skyler Locklear (himself a one-man stat machine), kept winning without him. “I knew they’d keep going. I just tried to do what I could from the sidelines.”
Coming back strong
When the season ended, Hampton concentrated on getting better for his senior season.
“I was able to get back on my feet in early June,” he said. “I did a lot of therapy.”
Hampton was able to resume running by mid-July, and said he expects to be at 100 percent when the Rams open their 2021 season at home against Cary.
The Rams are loaded, with most of their starters returning.
There will be one big change, though: Cleveland, along with Clayton, has been moved up to 4A. The Rams are still favored in their new conference, the Greater Neuse River 4A, but their playoff competition will include teams like Rolesville, Cardinal Gibbons and Leesville Road from Wake County — and, further down the road, two-time defending state champion Julius Chambers (formerly Vance).
“We’re looking forward to that,” Hampton said of the new competition. “We’ve really been working hard. We view this as a real opportunity.”
College choice
Hampton got one obstacle out of the way last month. After narrowing his college choice to Florida, North Carolina and Penn State, he announced July 21 that he’ll be playing with the Tar Heels next year.
A four-star recruit ranked by one service as the No. 9 running back prospect in the nation, Hampton said there were logical reasons to pick North Carolina.
“I liked what I saw,” he said. “I liked the family environment there. The coaches made me feel comfortable. I like the way they use the NIL (name, image, likeness). And they do a lot of what we do here.”
UNC running backs coach Robert Gillespie had recruited him, but he left in the summer for Alabama. Gillespie’s replacement, Larry Porter, stepped in and convinced Hampton to go to Chapel Hill.
“It’s close by, and my family will be able to see me,” Hampton said. “But that’s next year. Right now, I want to be the best I can, and help us have a big season.”
Statistically speaking
Omarion Hampton’s statistics are eye-catching.
Freshman year: 48 carries, 334 yards, one touchdown.
Sophomore: 250 carries for 2,402 yards and 35 touchdowns. Gained 100 or more yards in 13 of Cleveland’s 14 games. Averaged 9.6 yards a carry. Also caught four TD passes.
Junior: 58 carries for 685 yards in five games. Averaged 11.8 yards a carry and scored 13 touchdowns. At linebacker, he had 13 tackles, five for lost yardage.
Steve Lyttle on Twitter: @slyttle