Victor Hampton, then a highly thought-of DB at Independence High, spent last spring as the No.2 player on our NC Top 25 Prospects list. He’s not on the current list because Patriots coach Tom Knotts, a no-nonsense kind of guy, kicked him off the team earlier this summer.
No one is saying officially what happened, but a source close to the program said that Hampton “ran out of chances.”
So he moved to South Carolina and wound up at Darlington High.
Florida had offered Hampton a scholarship early, and apparently intends to honor it. I'd say Hampton, though, needs to have a problem-free senior year.
We didn’t rank him in our preseason SC Top 25 because we want to see how he does under new management. Apparently, being dropped in a number of rankings rankles Hampton.
“It bugs me that all my rankings have gone down based on what somebody says and not on my talent,” Hampton told Sporting News Today. “But I’ll be alright. I’ll make it through. I’m at a great place now at Darlington.”
Before anyone feels too sorry for him, though, read between the lines of what Knotts told The Observer after Hampton was given the boot in July.
“We just thought it would be in his best interest to move on,” Knotts said. “(He) had every chance with me in the world. We’ve got a set of standards all kids have to live up to. I wish him well.”
--Stan Olson
Thursday, August 27, 2009
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3 comments:
Funny, I was just reading yesterday on an SEC blog that the Gators rescinded his scholarship. Did they or did they not? In any event, Hampton needs to grow up fast or he will end up at some depressing junior college.
it does seem like something has been said to the media for them not to rank him high anymore,,the Gabe King kid is ranked #1 in NC and he can't play anywhere in the state,,so it sounds like TK has been blackballing the kid,,and TK will do that
Two huge differences between Gabe King and Vaic Hampton. Gabe was removed from the team (and school), rightly so, by Guilford Schools admin. Vic was removed by his coach after numerous incidents. The last time his team no longer went to his defense as they saw the continuing issues. It takes a lot to get kicked off the team at Butler and that happened there entering sophmore year. (He may have quit first but it was a done deal.)
Vic is not a bad person but there are some issues. It was noted in his youth football days and carried into high school.
Even if Florida had verbaled an offer they are notorious for "slowplaying" out of state players (note Quan Sturdivant) so no guarantee he would have ended up there.
Good luck Vic make this a positive!
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