The evolution of Navy senior quarterback Brian Hampton continued last Saturday at Connecticut.
There, Hampton finished with 323 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns, including 182 yards and three scores on the ground, in the Midshipmen?s 41-17 win over the Huskies. The performance came against a team that had allowed 231 yards a game going into the meeting.
However, arguably most important for Hampton, he proved he has the ability to make a big play with his arm, connecting with Reggie Campbell for a 77-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the game. This came after weeks of frustration, where Hampton constantly had chances to hit wide-open receivers only to over- or under-throw them.
“We had some plays in the passing game,” Navy coach Paul Johnson said. “The big plays have been there in every game, but we just hadn?t hit them. The law of averages finally caught up, I guess.”
Hampton, who finished 5 of 11 for 141 yards against Connecticut, has not always looked pretty running Johnson?s triple-option offense. He is 21 for 42 for 294 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in his five career starts. But he has also made a number of big plays and leads Navy (4-1) with 540 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground. His rushing performance against the Huskies represented the most yards earned in a game by a Navy quarterback in the Johnson era.
Hampton is also currently the top rushing quarterback in the country (108 yards per game) and is tied with Bowling Green signal-caller Freddie Barnes as the nation?s top scoring quarterback at 9.6 points a contest. Additionally, Hampton has three 100-yard rushing games this season and has a good chance of breaking the Navy single-season record of six such games by a quarterback, set by Chris McCoy in 1996 and ?97.
“It was exhilarating to finally be able to put something together on the ground and in the air in the same game,” Hampton said. “I think they both opened the other up. The pass opened up the run, and then the run opened up the pass like we usually do. … Although the final score didn?t show it, this was the most challenging game I?ve had this year, because UConn made us work hard on every play and it was definitely a challenge to break those big plays.”
NAVY NOTES
» Brian Hampton has scored at least one touchdown in each of Navy?s first five games, tying for the fifth longest such streak in the country. Northern Illinois? Garrett Wolfe leads that category with touchdowns in 10 straight games.
» Hampton?s 323 total yards against Connecticut were the most by a Midshipmen player since quarterback Craig Candeto finished with 350 yards (138 passing, 212 running) in a 49-40 loss to Northwestern in 2002.
