Mack Brown claims Omarion Hampton offered 'four times as much' NIL money to leave North Carolina
Mack Brown says North Carolina managed to retain Omarion Hampton despite strong offers elsewhere this offseason.
As Brown put it in his press conference on Friday, Hampton remained in Chapel Hill amidst “four times as much money” being offered to him from elsewhere in NIL. That showed him just how incredibly loyal that the Tar Heel running back was to them.
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“In modern day football, our fans talk about loyalty. He got offered four times as much money to leave as he would make to stay here and never even considered it,” said Brown. “Think about loyalty. I mean how much does that happen, modern day?”
Brown would obviously be very pleased that Hampton decided to stay at UNC. However, it goes deeper than that as he just thinks incredibly highly of him.
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“Omarion is one of the nicest, hardest-working kids I’ve ever seen in my life. If he speaks, it’s because you spoke to him and he’s usually going to say yes sir. He doesn’t gripe, he never changes emotion. I mean, if he scores a touchdown, he looks at you the same way if he does if he went the wrong way. He’s going to do what he’s supposed to do,” Brown said. “He does everything perfect, he never misses classes, he’s always the first one in his seat, and he works so hard. He gets mad when we take him out. If we’re having a thud group and then all of a sudden we go to scrimmage, he’s going to be mad that we don’t let him scrimmage.
“He’s just an absolute dream,” Brown continued. “He wanted to catch the ball better out of the backfield, he wanted to pass protect better. I would say those are the two things that he has really, really worked on. He was a great receiver last year so I think it’s route running. He has really worked on being more distinct in his routes, running away from man, sitting in zones, and doing those type things.”
Hampton is entering his junior season this year at North Carolina. In his pair of collegiate campaigns so far, he has rushed 341 times for 1,905 yards, good for 5.6 a carry and 73.7 a game, and 21 touchdowns. That includes last season’s breakout as a sophomore with 1,504 yards and 15 scores on 253 attempts. That led the Tar Heels on the ground by a wide margin. It was also good for the fifth-best rushing yardage in the nation in 2023.
Hampton earned all-conference and national honors with that, including being a finalist for The Doak Walker Award. He’s now up for much of the same recognition for his third year this upcoming season as one of the top backs in the sport.
Per On3 NIL, Hampton has a valuation of $617,000. That ranks him at No. 81 in the NIL 100 and at No. 50 in all of college football. A portion of that is through one of the Tar Heels’ collectives in Heels4Life. He also has the second-highest valuation overall at UNC behind only RJ Davis.
Some players might have decided to cash in somewhere else if another team offered them quadruple what they were making currently. Still, Hampton didn’t and Brown appreciates him all the more for it.
“He’s really good and he’s a dream,” Brown said. “I’m so proud of him. I’m pulling for him. I want him to have the year that he deserves to have because he has done everything right since he has been here.”