The first week of the spring season of high school football in the states of North Carolina and Virginia has been a big one for the Heel Tough Blog’s scouting reports as we gave you a look at a major target and a commit in the 2022 class over the weekend. Tonight, we throw it back to the first week of action on last time, as we break down Tar Heels’ 2022 4✮ RB target Omarion Hampton for the Cleveland Rams in their opening weekend performance against the South View Tigers.
Hampton put together one of the best rushing performances of Week 1 in the state of North Carolina, running for 177 yards and three touchdowns on his 18 rushing attempts, helping lead the way for a Rams offense that put up 39 points in a road win. He averaged 9.8 yards per carry on the night, including four carries that went for ten or more yards. He added two tackles on the defensive side of the football to go along with his extremely productive offensive evening.
Coming into the game, Hampton had drawn some comparisons to Javonte Williams and he backed those claims up on Friday night. He was able to show off a physical edge that we saw plenty of on film and his ability to thrive primarily as a one-cut back, similar to the way that Williams did in his time on campus. He might not be the fastest running back in the class, but he has some nice acceleration and straight-line speed in his arsenal. He only received one target in this game out of the backfield, but he caught fourteen passes a year ago and that seems like an area where he is capable of contributing at the next level. The fact that he plays the defensive side of the football, just like Williams did at the high school level, should allow him to have success as a pass protector. He has the skill set to have an early impact at running back and his special teams ability could also allow him to make a contribution early if he couldn’t climb the depth chart if he was to pick the Tar Heels.
The good news is that this in-state running back, who had a strong relationship with former running backs coach Robert Gillespie, reportedly likes the hire of Larry Porter as the replacement for Gillespie this offseason. In a loaded 2022 running back class, Hampton is someone who should be one of the top three targets at the position for the team in this recruiting cycle.
Hampton wraps it up for our first week of scouting reports for the 2021 spring season. This week should produce another great slate of games to scout and we will release our official scouting schedule for the weekend on Friday afternoon. Stick with us for some more in-depth looks at some of the Tar Heels top commits and targets in the 2021, 22 and 23 classes throughout the spring here on the Heel Tough Blog.
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