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Omarion Hampton ‘unbelievable’ in UNC football’s win vs Wake Forest

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1 month ago

November 18, 2024

Omarion Hampton 'unbelievable' in UNC football's win vs Wake Forest

CHAPEL HILL — Enterprise, all the time enterprise.

After each big-time efficiency for UNC soccer, each notch moved up within the file e-book, operating again Omarion Hampton appreciates the chance, acknowledges his offensive line and strikes onto the subsequent activity.

A person of few phrases in the case of chatting about his accomplishments, Hampton retains it brief and makes use of most of these phrases to reward everybody round him.

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The junior operating again caught to that script after a profession evening within the Tar Heels’ 31-24 win in opposition to Wake Forest, a victory that makes UNC (6-4, 3-3 ACC) eligible for a bowl bid. Hampton completed with a career-high 35 carries for a career-high 244 speeding yards in opposition to the Demon Deacons (4-6, 2-4).

“He’s very humble. He by no means asks for the ball. I suppose you don’t need to whenever you get it 35 instances,” UNC coach Mack Brown stated with a smile.

So what, if something, fires up Hampton in between the sidelines on a soccer area?

“I really feel like simply actually having the chance,” Hampton stated.

“God gave me the chance to play this sport; it’s positively one thing I’ve to make the most of. It’s one thing I like doing. I all the time grew up enjoying soccer, so anytime I’m on the sphere, it’s all the time a enjoyable feeling.”

That enjoyable feeling was prevalent Saturday as Hampton moved to fifth amongst UNC’s all-time main rushers with 3,327 yards, leaping Don McCauley and Kelvin Bryant in this system’s file e-book.

Hampton’s 244 yards tie for the eleventh most in UNC’s single-game historical past and are essentially the most speeding yards since Michael Carter had 308 at Miami in 2020.

“It’s simply so actually fulfilling, simply making historical past right here,” Hampton stated. “At all times rising up a fan, being right here, it’s actually fulfilling.”

Brown spent a bulk of his postgame press convention raving about Hampton’s all-world sport in opposition to the Deacs.

“It’s pretty much as good as any. It’s unbelievable,” Brown stated. “. … All people within the nation would need Omarion Hampton on their group. He’s gonna be an ideal professional.”

Hampton set the stage for a particular evening with 10 carries for 100 yards within the first quarter. He closed the curtain with a 6-yard landing run late within the fourth quarter to offer the Heels a two-touchdown lead with slightly below 2 ½ minutes left.

On the scoring play, Hampton, who stated he needed to “simply discover a solution to make one thing occur,” jumped over his offensive line and carried a Wake Forest defender into the tip zone to complete the run.

“You must be constantly good to be nice,” Brown stated. “He’s in line with every thing he does in his life.”

That consistency has Hampton among the many nation’s high operating backs as a projected first- or second-round decide within the 2025 NFL Draft. After his eighth straight sport with 100 or extra speeding yards, Hampton is not displaying any indicators of slowing down.

“He’s obtained 4.4 velocity at 220 kilos, and that’s freakish,” Brown stated. “However, to be unselfish, to be a group man that the gamers all love and admire, it’s only a distinctive high quality that makes him particular.”

Employees author Rodd Baxley may be reached at[email protected] or @RoddBaxley on X/Twitter.