Clemson CB Ashton Hampton on Silencing Doubters & Taking Down FSU

Ashton, how did you enjoy, uh, going back home last week and getting a big W, uh for Clemson?

It was nice.

I, I, I definitely took that game a little personal last week considering I was a Tallahassee kid growing up from middle school to high school, and it was just a, felt like a, a big time win to go out there and just prove everybody wrong, all the fans in the stands, the coaches on the other sidelines, being able to go out there and compete.

I just feel like, I just feel like that guy could come back to your hometown and get a big time win.

When you say personal, is it a recruiting thing or just going back home and you want, you want to put on a show?

I would say both definitely recruiting thing and just going home with myself for all the friends and family you got in the stands, just knowing that they're all watching, just being able to say, oh yeah, like he was here in Tallahassee, and then for a recruiting perspective, I was in Tallahassee and Florida State didn't really recruit me too hard after like a couple of coaching changes, so I feel like that's something that I definitely took personal and wanna go out there on the field and show.

And Ashton, when I see you play, man, you, you, you, you're feisty, you're physical, you don't, you don't mind to scrap it up on the field.

Do you think maybe getting overlooked at times in the recruiting process is, is the reason why you play with a chip on your shoulder?

I would say absolutely, cause coming out of high school, I , I was, I was only, I was only a 3-star prospect, but I feel like if you really look at me and like looking to the measures and all that, I definitely could easily have been a 4 or 5-star prospect.

But me coming in, into college being a 3-star prospect, not really highly really taught about stuff like that, that's definitely something that Makes me play with a chip on my soult cause I feel like I was disrespected in the, in the high school recruit ranks and stuff like that, and I just wanna go ahead and prove people wrong just so that I'm really a dog and then like, and to really show people that really rankings don't matter cause I knew how good I was and everything and stuff like that.

It's like for all the people that didn't really think I was that good and stuff like that, I wanna go out there and prove them wrong and show them that I really am that guy and I could be like the future.

Is it weird now that you're getting the, the recognition, the attention, people are, are, you know, are doing mock drafts.

Your name is coming up pretty quickly in these mock drafts.

Like, I don't know if you pay attention to stuff like that.

And also, it, is it a little weird to be on the other side now that you're getting more attention.

I try not to pay attention to stuff like that, but at the end of the day, sometimes you're gonna see it eventually.

You might just scroll in here and then, oh, that's me, that's kind of crazy to see.

But at the end of the day, I feel like it's not really that weird cause I just try not to pay attention to it.

I just try to, I try to keep going and keep putting that same chip muscle that I've always played with and just feel like that people are still not really talking about me enough and I just feel like With at a position like cornerback that you, that you have to have that mentality cause I, I feel like if you ain't got that dog mentality that corner, then things aren't really gonna work out too well for you.

You can't be, you can't really be soft that corner.

You gotta have that mentality and I'm gonna go ahead and prove you wrong every single snap.

At the end of the day, a corner could have maybe 75 plays in the game.

If you play 74 plays, right, but you get a touchdown on that 75th play, everybody gonna talk about that one play that you do give up.

And that, and that just for me, it's just something that I truly pride myself on being, being able to go out there and really not worry about the attention, but just go out there and play my game, just be that fast, physical dominant corner that I, that I know I am.

Just from talking to you and then obviously watching you uh uh play games like, you wanna be in the action, you, you, you wanna be in the mix, and, and you wanna maybe get some PBU, some interceptions, things like that.

But lately, the ball is not going in your direction.

Do you, do you get, do you get bored at times just waiting uh for, for the ball to be thrown your, in your, in your area?

I'm not gonna lie, sometimes I definitely do get a little like bored and frustrated.

At the end of the day, I'm a competitor, so I always want the ball to come to my side so I can make a play on it and go get me an interception and pass breakup.

But at the end of the day, that's definitely a, a, a sign of respect from the other team for them to, to not, not throw the ball in my way.

So that's something I do appreciate.

I feel like I've, I've earned that right, but at the end of the day, I wanna, I wanna go out there and continue to prove, continue to prove myself and just be able to have those opportunities to be able to go and, and, and make plays on, on the football, to be able to go out there and show people that I'm, I'm that truly dominant competitor that, that they always see on TV.

You know, like, like you mentioned, you could have a great game and you're playing 75 snaps, but you give up the game-winning touchdown.

That's, that's what people care about.

That's it, you know, when, when you're playing in a game and, and you're not seeing targets thrown your way, is that the discipline, the, the mental mindset, Hey, I gotta be on it 100% every single play because you don't know when you're gonna give up that big play.

Absolutely.

Especially at corner, like, you gotta make sure that you're on your P's and Q's every single play.

You gotta, you gotta make sure you go out there, you trust your technique, you trust your process.

At the end of the day, all it takes is one play, one catch for, for a quarter for, oh yeah, we got some over there.

And especially out if it's in that corner, you can't be over there slacking off cause the one time you do slack off.

Football is, is gonna make you pay for it, especially if you're, if you're locked in on, on 10 plays, not 11 plays, you're not, not as locked in.

The ass on the ball is, is gonna come to you.

But those 10 plays that you were locked in, the quarterback might even be thinking it.

But it's just some in, in, in the football universe that the quarterback knows.

He, I think he's slacking off a little bit, and then he, he can throw it over there and just test you and test the waters and stuff like that.

But you definitely gotta go out there, always make, always make, make sure that you're locked in, it's prepared.

You know, I'm, I'm gonna ask you a couple of questions that you might get at the combine if you decide to declare this year, but I, I always hear people screaming, hey, like, do you consider yourself the top cornerback in this class?

Did , did, did you consider yourself the, the best?

And, and you, what do you take away from facing guys like Malachi Tony and things like that?

Uh, you know, I guess I'll kind of summarize it in one question.

How much have you learned in, in these matchups in this year where you becoming, you know, talked about like, you know, in your class as one of the best cornerbacks?

Say Say it one more time.

Say the question again, my bad.

Just to kind of summarize all these questions, you're gonna get thrown your way.

Like, I guess, what have you learned because that's pretty much what they're asking.

Hey, like, hey, uh, you know, you know , why, why do you think you're the best, you know, why do you think, you know, that matchup against so and so worked out for you.

But I guess for you, you know, maybe the best way to say is, what are some learning lessons from this, you know, very good junior year for you.

OK, so the first thing that I've learned is I'm truly a competitor and I, and That's just something that's tested me and all the great receivers that I've played against in practice , in games, stuff like that.

And this year, I've, I've learned I'm truly a versatile corner.

I coined the outside, corner the inside.

I've got, I've guarded guys like Malachi Toi and Deuce Robinson.

Those are two completely different type of receivers when when it comes to stature.

Lockout Tony is a small receiver.

Deuce Robins is a big receiver.

So me being able to go, go out there and, and match both of those guys pretty well, it's just something that is truly a testament to the work that I put in over the summer and then the, the films that I, that I've had, just being able to go out there and compete against two completely, completely different types of receivers and just being able to go out there and just do that week in and week out cause the ACC is definitely a tough conference and, and each week I'm trying to match the, the best receiver that Every team has.

I, I wanna go out there and compete just and just continue to prove myself and, and show people that, that I am true that number one corner and, and the best corner of the country cause every time I step on the field, uh, that's the mentality that I have, and I'm, I'm trying to just go one, prove that to myself, but also prove that to the world.

That, that's a great uh combine answer.

When you get that question, man, in a few months, man, uh, so you face all kinds of receivers, you know, fast, big, physical, like, and, and you've passed all the tests.

So that's a good answer, Ashton.

But you know, maybe, maybe shifting away from football a little bit.

I was reading your bio on the Clemson website.

I saw you, you, you took an internship at the NFL headquarters.

Can you tell me about that?

Yeah, that was definitely fun.

It was me, Luke Stubbs, and Jeremiah Alexander.

We spent about, I think it might have been 2 days in New York and we were just touring the facilities and stuff like that.

We've been able to see all the behind the scenes and all the stuff that goes into the football operations.

Like we were able to see like the people that do the fines and stuff like that, the people that do the equipment, and just being able to see that it truly is more like of a, like a business beside a, a business behind the, the NFL and then just the players, cause for me, I'm always thinking about it from a player perspective.

I'm thinking about like Like going on the field, the X's and O's, but they're always thinking, but, but they're thinking on a complete different level from what I'm thinking.

They're thinking about the brands, the sponsorships, all the stuff like that, all the things that, that go into it, like all the TV ads and just being able to just truly see that it truly is a business behind just the football aspect.

Like you have one, you have the, the product on the field, and you get the product off the field too.

So being able to just see stuff like that.

It's honestly pretty cool to me and to see like the, the different tiers and the different levels of it cause like you got Roger Goodell and people like that, that were also like in the building, just being able to like just like to shadow the different executives of like the NFL for like a couple of days and just be able to pick their brains and learn the, the different things that, that they have to go through throughout their daily process and see how, how much different it is from, from, from my perspective for me to be able to go to meetings and practice, but they're also going to meetings too.

They're meeting, meeting about different things.

Like they're meeting about different kind of technologies to try to help, help make the game better and safer and like different, different films, uh, apps and stuff like that.

And that's just something that I thought was pretty cool just to be able to just witness live from, from firsthand cause then that, I'm, I am a football player in hopes of going to the NFL one day and just being able to see everything that goes into it.

That, that's very cool.

I wish I had this internship to kind of get to learn all that and talk to the commissioner and things like that.

So, uh, at 1st, 1st of all, I asked him, sorry to be here my son.

He's very chatty and in the mornings I'm out in LA, so he's probably making a lot of noise right now in the background.

But, uh, speaking of family , I, I saw your, your, your, your dad is a head coach in college football.

He, I think he played in, uh, the, the European version of the NFL, and your brother also played football, I guess, you know, being part of that football family.

Uh, I guess, again, I, I was, I always kind of get you, get, get you sidetracked with a bunch of questions that I have in my head that just comes out.

Uh, were you, were you born when he was playing your father in, in the, the European league?

No, he, by that time he was done, he had started coaching by then.

I was born in 2006.

OK, I was gonna say and maybe 2019.

It might have been gone by then actually.

Yeah, I think it was gone by then, but I, I think my brother might have been born by the time that he was OK.

So you, you weren't around for moving around and, and living in, in, in Europe and all that stuff, that, that, that I wasn't moving for yet.

OK, well, how about just being part of a football family, your brother, your dad, and just having this being in your daily life?

I would say being a part of a football family is really something that's truly special to me cause my dad's always been a football coach, and I've always been at a football event pretty much every single Friday or Saturday for the past, I'd say 20 or so years.

On Friday night, I'm going to my, my, my brother's game.

Saturday morning he got my game and then Saturday evening I'm going to my dad's game.

So that's just something that I think is pretty cool and being able to have a dad that's a coach and that coach is the position that I play and having an older brother that played, that played, that played the position I play at the same level that I did because my, my brother, my brother played at Northwestern Tulane.

So being able to just like go to him by anything or any question that I, I might have because at the end of the day he, he did the exact same thing I'm doing just before I did.

So there's really not anything that I can't ask him about college football, or, or if I don't wanna ask my brother, I can ask my dad, or vice versa.

My dad's a college football coach.

He's been going longer than I've been alive, so that's just something that's pretty cool to me, being able to have 22 people in my corner I can go to about anything, whether it's football or not football, just being able to talk to them about anything.

Did you always play cornerback or did you play any other position in football ?

Yeah, growing up, at first I started off as a quarterback, quarterback, running back, and then I got to like middle school and in high school, I started playing receiver and like safety and corner, so I've pretty much really been all all over the field, to be honest.

I mean a little bit when I was in Little League, I played, I played a little bit of DN for a couple of games, and that, I think that was pretty fun, but yeah.

How about any other sports besides football growing up?

Oh yeah, my, uh, when, when I was a, when I was younger, I, I, I, I played baseball, and then when I got to high school, I started playing basketball, and then my sophomore year we, we ended up winning a state championship in Florida cause Charlie Ward was actually my, uh, high school basketball coach, Heisman Trophy winner, and they, uh, cause my, uh, high school basketball team was pretty good.

We got a couple of guys in the NBA and then we definitely, we definitely had some dudes out there.

Who are those guys in the NBA right now that were your teammates?

Uh, Jalen Martin, Trey Donaldson.

We definitely have, we definitely have some dudes, and then there's a guy that plays at Florida State right guy named Anthony Robinson.

He's a point guard over there, and he's, he's pretty good too, so we definitely have some dudes out there.

Uh, a two-part question.

Do you think all those sports helped you in, in football and playing cornerback?

And then at what point did you figure out that, you know, playing cornerback in football was for you?

Absolutely playing all those sports definitely helped me grow and like, I would say grow and mature and just being able to be around so many different personalities and having to, like, having to have different skills playing the different sports, cause when I played basketball I was more of a defender cause all you got all the other, other basketball guys that are scoring all the points and stuff like that.

So I definitely have to adapt my role and being able to just like be unselfish and just go out, go out there and play and do whatever whatever I need to do to help my team win.

And what was the, uh, second part of that question.

Uh, I already forgot myself, but no, I, I, you pretty much answered it, but if I remember, I'll ask you again, but I do, I do wanna ask you about, you know, any other people in your family besides your dad and your brother that played other sports, maybe that's why you wanted to maybe try other things.

Uh, the crazy part is actually everybody else in my family, my dad, mom, my brother, they all run track, and they all, my mom and my dad won state championships in track.

My, my brother went to state in track for the 400, but I was probably the only one in my family that didn't run track.

So they usually make jokes and always call me slow and stuff like that, but I definitely I'm the fastest in the family.

I was just blessed with the height, height to be able to go and play, play basketball and like the rest of them.

OK, so when you run the 40, we should expect the fast time even though you don't have the track background.

OK, OK, good, good to know, Ashley.

And last thing again, again, I, I, I know I don't have much time, but it's been a pleasure talking to you.

But besides sports, any hobbies, what do you do to kind of unwind and, and chill and, and be at ease?

I would say for me, I, I do a lot of sleeping, a lot of sleeping and relaxing, or I'm probably scrolling on TikTok, just looking at all the funny videos on Instagram reels, cause like at the end of the day I'm still a kid, so like I, I need something to like just sit back and run and laugh at, or I might even sometimes play the game, but I really haven't played the game as much since I've been in high school and, well, uh, since I graduated high school and college, cause at the end of the day, you're usually busy most of the time, whether you're at meetings or football practice or something like that, and yeah, yeah, but like I'm probably doing one of those two things.

Yeah, it's nothing wrong with that, man.

I'm on TikTok all the time.

I'm doom scrolling.

I'm, I'm laughing for like an hour and then it's like, oh crap, I gotta get back to work.

I, I, I'm wasting my time here.

So it happens, man.

You're busy.

You're doing well, so you, you could have some time on, on, on, on IG and TikTok.

But Ashton, that's it, man.

I appreciate the time.

It was great, good, great to know you and best of luck moving forward.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.