Note: The following appears in the Stanford football gameday program.
One year ago, wide receiver and Clemson local Hampton Earle thought he would be playing his final season in the orange and purple. The D.W. Daniel High School graduate was offered a preferred walk-on spot by Head Coach Dabo Swinney during his junior year of high school and has been a member of the squad since his freshman season in 2019. While the 2023 season was supposed to be his last, he was approached by Swinney late in the season with the opportunity to return.
“It was getting towards the end of the year, and I heard that Coach Swinney wanted to talk to me about next year. I was coming off my knee injury from the spring and I’d already had it in the back of my mind to possibly have one last year being fully healthy.”
“We talked for about five or 10 minutes, I thought about it and came back to tell him that I wanted to return for another year. He told me that ‘work’ is always going to be there for me and this is the best time of my life with my best friends and brothers. I still had to complete my master’s degree as well. He basically summed it up by saying ‘you might as well come back’.”
Earle, now a graduate student, has had a fulfilling career as a Tiger student-athlete. His five-time ACC Academic Honor Roll selections and 2023 All-ACC Academic Team selection showcase his academic prowess. On the field, Earle has recorded valuable time as part of the special teams unit on kickoff returns.
“I’ve really enjoyed playing on special teams.
“I didn’t do fall camp last year, because I was coming off my injury and didn’t expect to play. During the first game, the coaching staff told me they wanted to give me a chance on kickoff returns, and it’s been awesome. Finding my little niche and doing it to the best of my ability to help my team win has been great.”
Taking Swinney’s encouragement that he “might as well come back” to heart, Earle has felt exceedingly confident that he made the right decision in returning, noting that so far, this has been his favorite year as a Tiger.
Although previously mentioning that his favorite memory at Clemson was the 2019 CFP National Championship Game, Earle also reflected on the community that he has built around himself during the past five years. Seeing beyond what happens on the field and into living life as a postgraduate, he is grateful for the brotherhood he has built with his fellow team members.
“On the field,…