Hampton finished his Senior Season, with a state championship, and after gaining national attention as a top WR in the Country, will play under Dan Lanning and Oregon next season.

In his State Championship win, the Senior had 145 yards and one touchdown on six catches. Hampton is a star at WR, and has elite hands, making hard catches look easy. I like his route running ability, and his footwork, allows him to make sharp cuts. After the catch he has elite speed, and a quick burst which allows him to blow past defenders. Oregon is getting a future top WR.

Congratulations Messiah!

Messiah Hampton Messiah Hampton 6'1" | 190 lbs | WR James Monroe | 2026 State NY is heading to Oregon, and he is one of the top prospects in the entire country. Hampton will likely receive double coverage the entire game. Hampton has had major impacts in both the running and receiving game this season, and if Monroe wants a state championship, they need to continue feeding him the ball against Sleepy Hollow.

I have been waiting for Messiah Hampton Messiah Hampton 6'1" | 190 lbs | WR James Monroe | 2026 State NY to make his appearance on this list, and he has done it, in a big win for Monroe over Honeoye Falls Lima.

With the final score reading 38-7, Messiah Hampton Messiah Hampton 6'1" | 190 lbs | WR James Monroe | 2026 State NY had one rush attempt for 41 yards and a touchdown. As a pass catcher, he had 110 yards, and two touchdowns, on eight catches.

The top-ranked recruit out of New York, and arguably the best wideout the Northeast region of the country has to offer, Messiah Hampton Messiah Hampton 6'1" | 190 lbs | WR James Monroe | 2026 State NY will be in the building, repping CTC. Flashback to this time two years ago, Coach Greg Hopkins and company raved about the at-the-time freshman Messiah Hampton Messiah Hampton 6'1" | 190 lbs | WR James Monroe | 2026 State NY , who spent the entire weekend dominating competition. I had a first-hand look at the Monroe junior before he developed into the bonafide star in the recruiting world that he is today.

Flash forward to this weekend, Hampton now stands as one of the more sought-after pass-catchers in the entire country. Official visits with Oregon, Ohio State, Miami, and USC, a recent offer and heat coming from Notre Dame, with Penn State still looming as a hopeful candidate. If Hampton shows up to this event, it would be worth the trip from Philly ten times over. Excited to potentially see him dominate DBs this coming weekend.

Hampton is easily not just the best WR in this class, but there is a sizable gap between my grade on him and the #2 OVR player in our rankings—I have seen him at 7v7 and see him play live. He is, without a doubt, the best player to come out of New York in the past five seasons.

His athleticism on tape and in person is some of the best you will find in any WR or athlete in the Northeast, but small nuances to his game, like his body control and balance, make him so special. I never throw the term “elite” out because pretty much no NY prospects are elite at anything – Hampton is the exception. He has elite hands and a seamless transition from catch point to ball carrier. His route running is some of the best I have seen. His releases off the LOS are never too complex, yet simple and effective – great explosive movements at the LOS and the ability to adjust tempo through his short and intermediate routes to create separation. To top if off, he has the long speed to separate deep.

Hampton has all the traits you look for in a WR, and he executes them consistently on tape and the camp circuit.

It was probably my favorite tape to watch in Section V this season. Such an electric football player that put on an absolute show in his junior season for Monroe High School. The WR is Messiah Hampton Messiah Hampton 6'1" | 190 lbs | WR James Monroe | 2026 State NY , and he stands in at 6’1”. For Hampton, he had 1900 all-purpose yards and 21 TDs on the year for his team. The pure ability to high point the football and prove that Hampton is a better ball player than the DB showed up constantly on tape. The straight speed, acceleration, and burst with the ball in his hands were elite traits to watch on tape. Hampton took screens, punt returns, deep passes, jet sweeps, crossing patterns, and all types of plays to the endzone to display his ability to outrun every defender in space. The foot quickness and sharp route running ability allowed Hampton to gain separation throughout games. What was really impressive was the physicality that Hampton displayed when being pressed at the LOS and being able to use his body to out leverage defenders at the POA. Being able to have above-average body control to make contested catches at a consistent rate is a very challenging task to accomplish and Hampton made it look easy. You could line Hampton up at the X, Y, or Z and he could run the majority of the route tree with ease. Hampton is the best Section V player I have scouted.

Hampton is the best player in the 2026 class and the WR picked up another FBS offer from Kansas and continues to perform at an elite level in Rochester.

For Messiah Hampton Messiah Hampton 6'1" | 190 lbs | WR James Monroe | 2026 State NY , the straight speed after the catch was made was outstanding to see on tape. This is a 6’1” junior WR for Monroe High School has really nailed down the logistics into running complete route concepts all over the field. Between running routes in the middle of the field and also in the endzone with post routes, Hampton was able to lose DBs often with double moves. I was amazed at the quickness coming out of his breaks and the physical nature in his YAC ability to deliver a stiff arm on a DB to separate into the open field for a TD. Even being utilized on punt returns was a major benefactor as Hampton returned three for TDs. 

Hampton is not just the top player for James Monroe but the best WR in New York, one of the top WRs in the northeast, and in the conversation for best player overall in New York. There has been plenty on this site about him in the past, so there is no need to go into detail, but in some recruiting news, he just named his top 10.

Hampton continued to roll in FBS offers and picked up his most recent from Boston College. Hampton, who heads into the season as the best player in the 2026 class in New York and was recently an All-Northeast team selection on PrepRedzone, is naming a top 10 today.