Casey Hampton

Casey Hampton Jr. (born September 3, 1977) is an American former professional football player who was a five-time, Pro Bowl nose tackle and 2-time Super Bowl Champion over twelve seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL).

Hampton attended the University of Texas, and started 37 consecutive games for the Texas Longhorns football team between 1997 and 2000.

He also appeared in three games in 1997 before being granted a medical redshirt but played in every game as a true freshman in 1996, starting six at nose guard and recorded 77 tackles (51 solos), one sack and seven stops for losses.

In his freshman season, he also had three quarterback pressures and a forced fumble.

Hampton majored in history.

In 1998, he was named the team's Most Consistent Defensive Player and started every game.

That season, he recorded 60 tackles (29 solos) with two sacks and eight stops for losses and registered six quarterback pressures, five pass deflections and recovered one fumble.

He became the first defensive lineman to lead the team in tackles two consecutive seasons (1999–2000), and recorded 329 tackles (177 solos) to rank 11th on the school's all-time list.

Hampton registered 56 quarterback pressures and caused nine fumbles in his college career.

He earned consensus first-team All-American recognition as a senior, having received first-team honors from the Football Writers Association of America, The Sporting News, the Walter Camp Foundation.

He was also a first-team All-Big 12 Conference selection and the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year by the Conference Coaches.

Hampton was an All-America first-team selection by the Football Writers Association and Associated Press as a junior in 1999.

In 2000, The Daily Texan, the student daily paper at Texas, characterized Hampton as "relentless," even quoting Hampton.

"The way I see it, you never know when your last play is going to be," Texas' star defensive tackle said.

"So you should go hard all the time. There's no reason to take a play off.."

At the time, Hampton was 6'1 and 325 lbs and safety Greg Brown said "I have never seen him take a down off, he's just so intent on destroying people that he never takes time to rest. It's gotta be a gift."

Prior to that he was an All-American college football player for the Texas Longhorns and a first round pick of the Steelers in the 2001 NFL Draft.

Hampton was born in Galveston, Texas.

He attended Ball High School in Galveston, Texas, and was a letterman in football and track.

He was twice named as the District Defensive Player of the Year, and as a senior, he was a Texas Class 5A All-State first-team selection.

Hampton played with Shaun Rogers, a 2nd round pick of the Detroit Lions in 2001 and a Longhorn from 1997–2000; and after Hampton was quoted saying "No one guy can block me. Two guys can probably get it done but never one guy. I can always overpower one," the Daily Texan printed this: "He's says he's never even been caked. Ever," fellow defensive tackle Rogers said.

"He says he wasn't even caked in junior high, but I, at least, am humble enough to say that I might have been once or twice. So I'd say some of what he says is questionable."

The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Hampton in the first round (19th overall) of the 2001 NFL Draft.

Hampton was the fifth defensive tackle drafted in 2001.

On July 22, 2001, the Pittsburgh Steelers signed Hampton to a five-year, $6.80 million contract with a signing bonus of $3.10 million.

Throughout training camp, he competed for the job as the starting nose tackle against Kendrick Clancy.

Head coach Bill Cowher named Hampton the backup nose tackle behind Kendrick Clancy to start the regular season.

He made his professional regular season debut in the Pittsburgh Steelers' season-opening 21–3 loss at the Jacksonville Jaguars.

On October 26, 2001, Pittsburgh Steelers' head coach Bill Cowher named Hampton the starting nose tackle for the remainder of the season, but stated he would still be rotated by Kendrick Clancy.

On October 29, 2001, Hampton earned his first career start and recorded two combined tackles during a 34–7 victory against the Tennessee Titans in Week 7.

In Week 9, he collected a season-high four combined tackles and made his first career sack on quarterback Tim Couch in the Steelers' 15–12 win at the Cleveland Browns.

He finished his rookie season with 22 combined tackles (nine solo) and a sack in 16 games and 11 starts.

The Pittsburgh Steelers' defense was ranked as the No. 1 defense overall and also finished first against the run.

The Pittsburgh Steelers finished first in the AFC Central with a 13–3 record and clinched a playoff berth.

On January 20, 2002, Hampton started in his first career playoff game and recorded three combined tackles in a 27–10 victory against the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Divisional Round.

The following week, he made two combined tackles in the Steelers' 24–17 loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.

His Ball High jersey number (No. 63) was retired at a dinner and parade on April 6, 2009.

Hampton is the only football player in school history to receive such an honor.

In track & field, Hampton was one of the state's top performers in the throwing events.

He had top throws of 16.13 meters in the shot put and 48.08 meters in the discus throw.