CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Last spring, with the NCAA transfer portal window flung open for its tornado of business activity, North Carolina's football staff endured an especially anxious wait up until the night running back **[Omarion Hampton](https://247sports.com/Player/Omarion-Hampton-46086495)** agreed to stay with the Tar Heels for what amounted to a considerable hometown discount.
Privately, former coach Mack Brown and his assistants had grown concerned that a big-money suitor might poach Hampton, particularly Georgia. Sources said the Bulldogs had Hampton and Trevor Etienne, eventually the transfer they landed, as the top running back targets on their offseason wish list for that portal cycle.
Ultimately, Hampton's decision to remain on board at UNC rewarded the Tar Heels with another All-America season of monster production, all at a significant bargain in this age of NIL. And on Thursday night, the Los Angeles Chargers made him a first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft with the No. 22 overall selection. He'll team up with coach Jim Harbaugh and quarterback Justin Herbert on the West Coast with the Chargers.
A little more than three years ago, Hampton rumbled out of Clayton (N.C.) Cleveland High School, and joined Carolina as the 11th-ranked running back nationally in the prep Class of 2022. On Thursday night, he became the second running back taken behind only Ashton Jeanty of Boise State (No. 6 overall to the Las Vegas Raiders). Hampton and former UNC quarterback Drake Maye (the No. 3 overall choice in 2024) give the Tar Heels first-round picks in back-to-back NFL Drafts for the first time in a decade, since a four-year streak from 2011-14.
Hampton became UNC's highest drafted running back since Ethan Horton, who went No. 15 overall in 1985. Draft analyst Dane Brugler of The Athletic rated Hampton as the No. 29 overall prospect among the 2025 class. A chiseled physical specimen, he measured fractions shy of 6-foot and 221 pounds at the NFL Combine, after twice leading the ACC in rushing, and delivering the second-best rushing season — 1,660 yards across 12 games in 2024 — throughout the pages of Carolina football history.
"Being able to go run through contact, he will do that," draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. said of Hampton on Thursday night during the ESPN broadcast. "Excels at picking up yards and breaking tackles after that contact, with the leg drive and the determination and that breakaway speed he possesses. Very good hands as well.
"Doesn't have the elusiveness of a Jeanty, and the ability there to make people miss on a consistent basis. Pass blocking needs to improve just a bit. But the athleticism, one cut and he can go. Omarion Hampton will hit that hole hard and he will break tackles. He is a game-breaker at 220-plus pounds."
Omarion Hampton is UNC's 26th first-round pick in the NFL Draft.
The workhorse Hampton leaves the Tar Heels fourth all-time in rushing with 3,565 career yards, a three-year total that ranks behind only legends Amos Lawrence, Mike Voight and Leon Johnson, all of whom spent four college seasons in Chapel Hill. Hampton checks in third at UNC in career rushing touchdowns (36), and second in 100-yard rushing efforts (19). He joined Travis Etienne, Dalvin Cook and Lamar Jackson as the only ACC players across the last 20 years to supply 1,500 rushing yards or more in back-to-back seasons.
Hampton authored two of the three most-prolific rushing seasons in Carolina history. He piled up 1,504 yards and 15 touchdowns on the ground across 13 games as a sophomore in 2023, then equaled that touchdown number while surpassing his rushing output by 156 yards in one fewer game as a junior in 2024 — despite the Tar Heels' limitations at quarterback with Maye having departed for the NFL.
"That's Joe Mixon right there," ESPN analyst Louis Riddick said Thursday night, comparing Hampton favorably to the hard-running lead back for the Houston Texans. "That's who he looks like, Joe Mixon wearing a North Carolina uniform."
UNC now has produced 10 first-round draft picks since 2008. That marks the third-highest total of any current ACC school during the same time frame, behind Clemson (18) and Florida State (14). The Tar Heels' 26 all-time selections in the first-round of the NFL Draft are the most of any school in North Carolina, ahead of NC State (19), Duke (nine) and Wake Forest (five).
Last season, Hampton ran for 100 yards or more 10 times, 130 yards or more on six occasions, and exceeded 200 yards or more twice. He matched Don McCauley's school record of 10 games in a season with 100 yards or more. In November, he churned out a career-best 244 rushing yards during a victory against Wake Forest, in UNC's 10th game of the 2024 season. Hampton accumulated 40 touches that night at Kenan Stadium (35 carries to go along with five catches), further underlining his exceptional durability.
And after the Tar Heels defeated Wake Forest, Hampton arrived for postgame interviews wearing the distinct menthol smell of the pain-relieving creams that can populate locker rooms, which registered as all too appropriate. He collected 25 touches or more in eight of 12 games last season, and only fumbled once.
Hampton improved as a receiver out of the backfield, too. His 38 catches for 373 yards last season ranked second and third, respectively, for Carolina. Across his three seasons in college, he was charged with just two drops on 80 career targets.
"With his NFL-ready frame, Hampton quickly reads the blocking scheme and collects his feet to accelerate through congestion or press and cut toward slivers of daylight," Brugler wrote during the lead-up to the draft. "Once he gets north-south, he will mash the gas pedal into second-level defenders, but sometimes does so at the expense of his balance — and those heavy hits will take their toll over time. Overall, Hampton has only average creativity and is a tad tight in his hips and ankles, but he is a bruising runner with an effective blend of patience, power and speed. Given his reliability on passing downs, he is a complete player and should start as an NFL rookie."