Linebacker Willie Hampton announced on Twitter on Tuesday night that he has received his release from Nebraska and will be transferring.
— willie Hampton (@WillH_C30) May 30, 2018
In his statement, Hampton thanked both the previous and the current coaching staffs as well as his teammates.
Hampton was the first member of Nebraska’s 2017 recruiting class, committing in March of 2016 out of American Heritage in Pleasanton, Florida. Rated as a 3-star prospect by the Hail Varsity Composite, Hampton choses the Huskers over Central Florida, Western Michigan and Florida Atlantic.
The 6-foot-1, 225-pound linebacker redshirted last season. The Huskers were still running a 4-3 defense under Mark Banker when Hampton – listed as an outside linebacker coming out of high school – committed, but the Huskers switched systems to Bob Diaco’s 3-4 last year. Hampton worked at inside linebacker last season and was doing the same in the spring for Erik Chinander’s version of the 3-4.
Hampton is the second inside linebacker to announce his decision to transfer after Andrew Ward did the same on May 19.
Midway through spring ball, inside linebackers coach Barrett Ruud highlighted Dedrick Young II, Mohamed Barry, Will Honas and Avery Roberts as the four that had separated themselves from the pack at inside linebacker.
“Drew [Ward] and Willie [Hampton] are playing a little catch-up right now but they’re working at it,” Ruud said.
Hampton recorded three tackles including one for loss for the Red team in the Red-White Scrimmage in April.
Hampton’s departure leaves the Huskers with just those first four as inside linebackers on scholarship.
Jacob Padilla has been writing for Hail Varsity since 2015. He covers football, volleyball men’s basketball and prep sports. He also co-hosts the Nebraska Preps Postgame and Nebraska Shootaround podcasts for the Hurrdat Media and Hail Varsity podcast networks. His love of basketball can best be described as an obsession and if you need to find him, he’s probably in a gym somewhere watching, coaching or playing hoops.
