CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson cornerback Ashton Hampton almost opened the season with a highlight-reel takeaway, but a closer look on the big screen revealed just how tight the margin was on the field.
“I did. I definitely thought I had to pick,” Hampton said. “I really should have caught it the first time. Shouldn’t have tipped the ball up in the air the first time. But yeah, I definitely thought I had it the first time. But then when I seen like on the jumbotron, I’m like, I definitely hit the ground a little bit. But I definitely thought I had it the first time.”
That near-miss was emblematic of an early-season stretch where Hampton felt individual success needed to translate into collective execution.
“I feel as an individual, I’ve played pretty well, but overall as a team, I feel like we have to play a lot better,” Hampton noted. “We have to make sure we execute on the little details and the little things, and just making sure we’re playing on all three levels: special teams, offense, and defense.”
A primary driver of the secondary’s improved cohesiveness alongside Jerome Carter, Corey Myrick, and Elliot Washington II has been an intentional focus on communication.
“I feel like our connection that we have, just like the communication on the back end, like all the meetings that we have and stuff like that, we’re all able to communicate well with one another and just making making sure we’re all on the same page and just communicating through all the little details and stuff like that,” Hampton explained. “I feel like last year it might have been like a little bit of a disconnect, but I feel like this we’ve really honed in on like the small details, making sure that we’re communicating with one another, making sure we all know each other’s jobs and what everybody’s doing on every single player.”
While coverage remains a strength, Hampton holds himself accountable when defending the run.
“I have to do better in the run game,” Hampton admitted. “I have to do a lot better on my tackling and stuff like that. It’s honing on the little details and just making sure that I’m being more consistent with my tackling, but I agree.”
When weighing the thrill of creating takeaways against blowing up screens behind the line, the boundary corner admitted where his primary passion lies.
“I would say being a cornerback, you always love to get to an interception, but I would love to do both because I’ve done that in the past blowing blowing people up on big hits and stuff like that, but as a cornerback, I feel like getting getting that big time interception be a little bit more fun,” Hampton said.
That mindset has fueled a secondary that continues to earn high praise for its overall standard.
“I would just say we’re out there just making plays and just making sure out there doing doing our 111 every time we’re out there on the field, and just making sure that we’re doing doing the little things right, making sure we’re taking one play at a time, and making sure that we have and making sure that we give each player the effort and the technique that it deserves,” Hampton said. “Because at the end of the end of the day, most games come down to those three or four plays, and we’re trying to make sure that each play has that intensity that it deserves.”
The defensive standard was put to the test following a tough 51-point outing against LSU, prompting a quick rebound against Georgia Southern.
“I would say so, yes, but there’s also some things that we need to clean up, like giving up a couple of big plays, but stuff like that,” Hampton said of the performance. “I would say it was a little bit fun to go out there, have a little bit of a dominating performance against Georgia Southern, but that’s what we’re expected to do. So at the end of the day, it’s not really like a whoo type moment, but at the end of the day, we got to get back to work and just try to repeat it next week against the conference opponent in North Carolina.”
The message from the coaching staff between those contests was straightforward and forward-looking.
“You got to flush it and just keep pushing,” Hampton recalled. “At the end of the day, that one game really doesn’t define us. Because obviously, we gave them 51 points. That’s not something that you want to do as a defense. At the end of the day, if you’re giving up 51 points week in and week out, you’re not going to win many football games. So at the end of the day, our coaches just saying flush it and just make sure they’re holding on the little details, like sitting there, just making tackles, covering people, just stuff like that.”
Back on the field, the entire locker room is rallying behind freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds as he steps into the spotlight.
“I would say just elite young guys gonna go out there and compete every single play, and I’m excited for him because I know that the defense can have his back, and he’s gonna have our back on offense,” Hampton said. “I’m just really excited for him to be able to go out there and have an opportunity to go out there and play, improve himself on a big stage like this in our first conference game against North Carolina, and I’m very excited for him because he has all the talent in the world, and I’m just ready for him to show it.”
Hampton noted that Reynolds’ potential has been clear since early team workouts.
“Yeah, he’s definitely made a couple of throws in the spring and in fall. Cam, I was like, okay, I got definitely has a shot to be an elite quarterback,” Hampton said. “I feel like he’s going to be a special player. He just has to go out there and prove it now because we’ve all seen it in practice, summer workouts and stuff like that. But now he just has to go out and show it to the world, and I’m very excited for him to be able to go out there and do that this weekend.”
As for whether this close-knit secondary unit has earned a nickname of its own yet, Hampton revealed it remains a work in progress.
“I don’t think we came up with a nickname just yet, but we’re definitely in the process of coming up one for ourselves,” Hampton said. “That’s something we’ve definitely been the worst of making, but right now we don’t have one as of yet. But it’s definitely coming soon.”
