School: North Carolina
Year: Jr
Position: RB

Physical Attributes

• Height: 6-0
• Weight: 220
• RAS: 9.78
• 40 Time: 4.46

Rankings

• Joe’s Ranking: 7.4
• Consensus Position Rank: 2
• My Position Ranking: 2
• Difference in Ranking: 0
• Tier: 2
• Projected Round: 1

Games Watched

• NC State ’24
• Wake Forest ’24

Ryan’s Notes

Positives

• Hampton is a powerfully built back that looks all of his 220 lbs with a very low body fat percentage.
• His vision is decent and he can set up blocks inside the box sufficiently, I like that he can read defensive lineman’s leverage at speed.
• When he opens his gate to move laterally he really covers ground and he often pairs this with a mean stiff arm to erase angles from safeties.
• He has some shiftiness to his game with fakes to slow down pursuers but he isn’t able to beat them to the sideline as his top end speed is average.
• He is a surprisingly fast route runner when split out wide which shows he has the potential to be even faster with the ball in his hands.
• Showed some nice technique whilst lead blocking in this game. Hampton can break through arm tackles and carry weaker players for a decent amount of yards.
• He knows his assignments in pass pro and gets to them quickly with solid commitment and technique resulting in solid reps.
• His vision is faster than his feet but he still makes the most of slight openings, it takes more than one player to bring him down but he doesn’t really burst between those attempts in the same way the elite guys do.
• His power is more gradually built as he collates momentum but when he’s moving he is hard to stop as he can really punish anyone who tries to go high on him.
• His footwork to avoid being tripped in the backfield is outstanding, his eyes are always up but he has a natural feel for when to pick up his feet versus keeping them low to drive forwards, his hips are fluid and he can open up at ankle breaking angles because of it.
• Two plays in a row in the second quarter vs NC State he just dominated through a tight box to get all the way to the safeties.
• His transition between powering through tackles to opening up is quick and this means whilst he is not a threat to take it all the way for six, he is going to take anything you give him between the second and third levels.
• Omarion is a help in the pass game too with decent route running and safe hands.
• As a power back it’s important to be able to take head on contact as well as survive lateral attempts and Omarion can certainly do that.
• I need to check his testing time because did I really just see him one cut for 60 yards? He was like a blur on the screen the way he burst through the gap. That was impressive but his footspeed isn’t the best and he has a long stride running technique which means he gets caught out when meeting defenders when operating at top speed.
• Side note: I hate his team mates as their terrible attitude cost him a lot of yards and success due to flags, he already hit 1660 yards rushing in 2024 but he could have had a lot more if not for his colleagues.

Negatives

• Omarion can be a bit late to see backside creases and whilst he can burst off of his backfoot well he has a tendency to jump into cuts too often and this costs him vital time to expose the opportunity.
• His short yardage contact balance could be better, he carries the ball in a high position ready to launch off of his in-step but this means he can get knocked off balance a bit too easily just as he breaks out of the hole.

Ryan’s Summary

Hampton’s system fit is clear as a gap scheme power back that has both the vision and athletic skills to be a consistent chain mover at the next level. People will use the argument that he didn’t do anything against better defenses but watch the tape and you’ll see how bad his offensive line was, it is impressive he even achieved what he did against the bad teams. Omarion is a three down back too with better than expected passing game skills and solid pass protection awareness and execution. His ability to break tackles is only outmatched by his elite backfield footwork to effectively work through traffic and find the crease amongst the chaos. His best work is seen in smooth adjustments in short spaces and he certainly has the speed to be a home run threat. The only real weaknesses I see are a lack of backside vision which means he sometimes takes the run for no gain and his short area quickness is average due to his long stride running technique. I like his projection to the next level and if it wasn’t being compared to Jeanty he may have been a really high pick as he is far better than last years class and deserves some more recognition.