Profiles In Terpage – A Countdown To The Football Season: Maurice Hampton
By petevolk
A recurring series where we will profile every player and coach on Maryland’s roster, counting down to kick-off against Miami. Thanks to OBNUG for the idea.
Today we profile a converted offensive lineman.
Maurice Hampton, Senior (RS), Defensive Tackle
Stats:
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 295
Ratings: Three stars by Rivals, #18 in Virginia, #37 offensive tackle; three stars, #59 offensive tackle by Scout; three stars, #24 offensive guard by ESPN
40-yard dash time: 4.9
College Stats (through three years): Five tackles (two solo), one for a loss
High School: Phoebus High School (Hampton, Va.)
How’d He Get To College Park?
Because Maurice Hampton is one of the older guys on the team, there’s not much information about him out there as a recruit. We do know he was one of the top offensive tackles in the state of Virginia, wrestled during his four years at Phoebus, and wa s a high school teammate of former Terp Haroon Brown. He was a first-team all-state selection for Group AAA Division V in and first team all-area selection by the Newport News Daily Press as a senior, and was named first-team all-district as a junior and senior.
Hampton was recruited to Maryland by Tom Brattan, and chose the Terps over offers from North Carolina State, South Carolina and Virginia Tech. In his time at Maryland, however, he hasn’t really contributed on the field. After redshirting his first year on campus, he spent his freshman season on the squad team, not seeing any playing time. In his sophomore year he played in six games at offensive guard, including a start against Rutgers at left guard.
Before his junior year, he switched over to defensive tackle, and recorded five tackles in seen games. He’s pretty far down the depth chart, but the fact that Randy Edsall kept him on the roster (unlike a bevy of other fifth-year seniors) means that he has a chance to get significant playing time.
More after the jump.
Nickname:
Maurice “Mo'” Hampton
Career Highlight:
Starting against Rutgers in 2009.
Career Lowlight:
Spending his redshirt freshman year on the scout team.
Arbitrary Top Five List:
Notable football players from Phoebus:
1. Xavier Adibi
2. Tajh Boyd
3. Haroon Brown
4. Elan Lewis
5. Maurice Hampton
Dream season:
A.J. Francis wins the other defensive tackle slot, Justin Anderson moves back over to end, and Hampton becomes the first d-tackle off the bench.
Nightmare season:
Hampton gets garbage time in the Towson game, and that’s it.
2011 prospectus:
In the extremely unlikely event that the current form of Maryland’s depth chart holds throughout the year, Maurice Hampton is screwed, to put it likely. He’s currently third-string at one of the two defensive tackles, and not the good one to be third-string at – he’s behind all-ACC Joe Vellano and former freshman All-American A.J. Francis. The only way Hampton is going to play is if there are some positional shufflings, injuries, or if they decide to use him in Zach Kerr’s old role of goal-line stuffer (hey, maybe the former offensive lineman will play fullback as well).
Hampton is pretty much in walk-on territory here – a lot of things have to happen and he has to prove himself in a big way in order for him to see any playing time outside of the Towson game. It’s unfortunate, but he hasn’t done anything in his four years as a Terp to really merit any serious time on the field. He will get a chance, however, and we’ll just have to see if he can take advantage of it.
Another note – Maurice Hampton is the only senior on Maryland’s defensive line.
Up Next:
Our next player moved from outside linebacker to defensive end.