CLEMSON- Ashton Hampton has always been firm in his decision to play at Clemson.

The freshman cornerback committed to the Tigers the summer before his final season of high school ball knowing that he would be playing under one of the best corners coach’s in the country in Mike Reed. That, on top of the culture Dabo Swinney has spent so much time cultivating inside of the program was too much to pass up.

“It is a winning culture,” Hampton said. “It’s a great DB coach in coach Reed. Coach Swinney is an honest coach, a great guy and the rest is history. Just check the stats.”

While Reed’s track record speaks for itself, including having multiple cornerbacks drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft, it went deeper than that for Hampton. His father played with Reed when both were a part of NFL Europe so he has known the Tigers’ assistant head coach for quite some time.

Hampton also got an up close look at how that culture was different than most and he got it at an early age and on the national stage.

“Coach Reed and my dad, they played together in NFL Europe, they were both corners on the same team,” Hampton said. “In 4th or 5th grade, Clemson played Alabama for the national championship and I was selected to be on one of those teams to meet all the players and stuff. The Alabama players came by, they didn’t really talk to us but the Clemson players, they would talk to us and interact with us and stuff like that. Since my dad knew coach Reed, I took a picture with him.”

Three games into his career at Clemson and not only has Hampton already recorded his first pick, he also returned it 63-yards for a touchdown in the Tigers’ 59-35 win over NC State on Saturday.

Watching the freshman play, you would never know he was the only corner signed in the 2024 class that did not enroll early. That meant there was a lot to learn in his first fall camp and just a short amount of time to learn it. However, Hampton just put his head down and went to work and the results are speaking for themselves.

“For the most part, when I got here, I knew what time it was, it was go-time,” Hampton said. “Not time to sit around, it was time to get to work and that is what I am doing right now.”

A limited number of signed replica road signs from Cade Klubnik are available!  Visit Clemson Variety & Frame or purchase online!