Catching up With Edwardsville QB Ryan Hampton

Edwardsville high school, just outside of St. Louis, is home to one of the state’s most talent-rich programs. Multiple NFL players like A.J. Epenesa, Vincent Valentine, and Craig James have graced the sidelines for the Tigers. However, they’re currently home to one of the states, more underrated prospects, quarterback Ryan Hampton. At six foot one and one hundred and sixty-five pounds, Hampton had a breakout junior season, leading Edwardsville to an 8-3 record and the second round of the 8A State Playoffs. Despite this success, Hampton wasn’t satisfied with his junior season, "I wish my junior season could’ve gone better, but it was a good taste of what varsity is like. We went 8-3 and lost in the second round to  #1 seed Minooka who was a great team, but I think we beat ourselves. I’m definitely looking to improve drastically compared to last season." Blessed with an exceptional arm, impressive improvisational skills, and pinpoint accuracy, Hampton has all the tools you look for in a quarterback. "I think my strengths include being a pass-first QB and being capable of hurting the defense with my arm, but also able to do damage on my feet when needed. I think my toughness and competitiveness are unbeatable by most players," said Hampton. Despite all this talent, his recruiting has yet to take off. At this time, he only holds an NAIA scholarship & a few Division three offers. To me, that is quite puzzling. Hampton is a little on the lite side, from a weight perspective, but that’s something that college’s really don’t dwell on. Most programs feel like they can help you add that weight over time. Hampton has all the tools you look for in a signal-caller. Nonetheless, Ryan isn’t sweating it. He’s more worried about this upcoming season. He’s found ways to improve his game, despite the pandemic, "This offseason, I used the beginning part of the year to focus on getting bigger and stronger. Because of COVID, the weight room was hard to access, so I mostly used the latter half of the offseason to focus on throwing mechanics, agility, speed, and 7 on 7 type games." Once winter rolls around, Edwardsville’s senior gunslinger will be more than prepared. He’s trained hard and put a strong emphasis on getting faster this off-season. He wants to do big things his senior season and help the Tigers make a deep playoff run. I brought up goals to him, and what he was looking to accomplish his senior season, "Some goals I have for next season include making it to AT LEAST the quarter-finals, 2000+ passing yards, 500+ rushing yards, 30+ total TDs, and 5- INTs." With a very talented group around him, those stats are most certainly attainable. Edwardsville returns star skill players [player_tooltip player_id="20197" first="Justin" last="Johnson"] and [player_tooltip player_id="20281" first="Mason" last="Ahlers"] for their senior season. Johnson himself will be a candidate for the Mr. Football Award. Edwardsville is one of the most talented teams in 8A and will stake their claim at a deep playoff run. That run will be led by the man behind center and one of the state’s most slept on quarterbacks, Ryan Hampton.