Swinney Impressed by Frosh Who ‘Doesn’t Look like a Freshman’

After enrolling at Clemson this summer, Ashton Hampton has made a strong impression on head coach Dabo Swinney during fall camp.

Following Thursday’s scrimmage, Swinney spoke highly of the 6-foot-2, 200-pound freshman cornerback.

“He’s a great-looking kid. Big, strong – you don’t see many freshmen that look like him from just a size standpoint,” Swinney said. “He’s big and long and physically developed. He doesn’t look like a freshman. So, I think that’s the biggest thing that jumps out at you with him is just his physical presence, and he’s a focused kid.”

Hampton, who committed to Clemson in July 2023 and signed last December, was rated as a four-star prospect in the 2024 class by Rivals.

Clemson cornerback Ashton Hampton (23) during the Tigers’ opening day of fall camp Friday, August 1, 2024. Bart Boatwright/The Clemson Insider

An outstanding defensive back and receiver while playing both ways at the prep level, Hampton finished his career at Florida State University High School (Tallahassee, Fla.) with 115 receptions for 1,797 yards and 21 touchdowns, to go with 92 career tackles, 10 tackles for loss and six interceptions over his 43 games.

As a senior in 2023, Hampton racked up 53 receptions for 873 yards and 10 touchdowns in 13 games on offense while adding 64 tackles, three tackles for loss, three interceptions and nine passes defensed on defense.

Hampton also played high school basketball for two years. He is the son of University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff head football coach Alonzo Hampton, who was an NFL Europe teammate of Clemson cornerbacks coach Mike Reed with the Frankfurt Galaxy.

“He’s a coach’s kid,” Swinney said of Ashton. “He’s been around ball his whole life. He’s got good instincts for the game.”

With the Tigers dealing with some injuries in their cornerback room, Swinney says Clemson is “gonna need” young corners like Hampton, fellow true freshmen Tavoy Feagin and Corian Gipson, and redshirt freshman Branden Strozier.

“All those guys, Gipson and Tavoy, they’re all doing some good things, and then Strozier, I kind of put in that group, too, because he wasn’t able to play last year,” Swinney said. “So, it’s a good young group – they’ve just got to keep coming on, because we’re gonna need ‘em.”

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