USF ATHLETICS GoUSFBulls.com
Tampa native ranked second in the conference in pass break-ups in 2018
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla., JULY 22, 2019 – USF junior Mike Hampton has been named to the 2019 Jim Thorpe Award Preseason Watch List announced on Monday. The award annually recognizes the best defensive back in college football.
Based on performance on the field, athletic ability and character, the Thorpe Award Watch List includes 46 of the nation’s top defensive backs, representing 10 conferences and one independent university. Hampton is one of only four players from the American Athletic Conference to be selected for the watch list.
A Tampa native, Hampton (Hillsborough HS) started 11 of 13 games in 2018 and ranked second in the league and ninth nationally with 18 passes defended, the second-most recorded in USF season history. An All-AAC Honorable Mention selection in 2018, Hampton finished the season with 16 pass breakups, which also ranks as the second-most in a single season in school history.
Hampton registered 43 tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack and two interceptions in his first season as the team’s starting cornerback.
The award recipient is selected by the Paycom Jim Thorpe Award National Selection Committee, which boasts members of the NCFAA, an Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in-house award committee, former Paycom Jim Thorpe Award recipients and sportswriters and college football journalists throughout the country.
The 2019 Paycom Jim Thorpe Award winner is selected from three finalists and will be announced at The Home Depot College Football Awards Presented by Gildan on Thursday, December 12, 2019, on ESPN. The Paycom Jim Thorpe Award commemorative banquet will be held on Tuesday, February 4, 2020, in Oklahoma City.
USF opens the season on Fri., Aug. 30 with an ESPN primetime clash with Wisconsin at 7 p.m. in Raymond James Stadium. Season, single-game and ticket packages are available by calling 1-800-GoBulls or visiting USFBullstix.com or Ticketmaster.
ABOUT USF FOOTBALL
Having completed just its 22nd season of football, and 19th at the FBS level, the USF football program has earned 10 bowl appearances, including a current run of four straight, and owns a record of 6-3 in bowl games. The Bulls have appeared in the national top 25 rankings in each of the past three seasons, including a program record run of 20 straight weeks in the top 25, and in 2018 reached the program’s 150th win faster than any FBS program in state of Florida history. USF has posted a pair of 10-plus win seasons in the last three years, including a program-record 11 wins (11-2) in 2016, and logged 15 winning seasons overall. Since first taking the field in 1997, the USF program has reached as high as No. 2 in the national rankings (2007), seen 30 players selected in the NFL Draft, 14 named All-American and 29 earn first-team all-conference selection.
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– #GoBulls –
Brian Siegrist
Associate AD – Communications
University of South Florida Athletics
