Father of five-star shooting guard Ryan Hampton breaks down NC State official visit

By Noah Fleischman

NC State head coach Will Wade has had a longstanding relationship with Daytona Beach (Fla.) DME Academy five-star shooting guard Ryan Hampton and his family after he recruited the top prospect’s older brother, R.J., in the 2019 cycle before he opted to play for the New Zealand Breakers for a season.

So when the Wolfpack entered the younger Hampton’s recruitment, the program quickly became a top contender because of the head coach. No matter where Wade would have been coaching at the power conference level, the Hampton family would have been very interested in that program.

Luckily for NC State, Wade is patrolling the sidelines inside the Lenovo Center. And Hampton, who is ranked as the No. 1 shooting guard and No. 3 overall prospect in the 2027 class, spent Sunday and Monday in Raleigh on an official visit — the first of four this week, followed by Ole Miss (Tuesday), SMU (Wednesday) and Nebraska (Saturday).

For Ron Hampton, Ryan’s father, the trip to NC State was more about seeing what the program as a whole had to offer since the family’s bond with Wade was already there. 

“He got us here, and now you come in and peel back the layers,” Ron Hampton said in a phone interview with TheWolfpacker.com shortly before flying out of Raleigh. “Talk to the assistant coaches, the team, the trainers to see if it’s a fit. We know Will’s going to be a fit for Ryan, but will the team, the coaches and the culture be a fit for Ryan? Will sets the tone for all that.”

It seems like the Hampton family was able to see everything it needed to during Ryan’s first official visit of his recruitment.

Bond with NC State

As displayed by their past relationship with Wade, the Hampton family felt comfortable at NC State. Add in the fact that they have previous bonds with general manager Andrew Slater and director of player development Joseph Anderson, which are beneficial for the Wolfpack.

Slater, who leads the Pack’s recruiting efforts, has a relationship with the Hampton family that can rival any around the country, dating back to his time as a scout for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“We’ve known him since RJ was in seventh grade,” Ron Hampton said of Slater. “He’s like family. We’ve known him forever.”

The recruiting process, however, is always going to put an emphasis on the head coach. And Wade seems to be in great standing with Ryan and the rest of his family. 

“He’s just a player’s coach,” Ron Hampton said of Wade. “Coaching is great and being competitive is great, but at the end of the day, he’s a good man. That’s one thing that stands out when he’s recruiting Ryan, I think he’s a good person. He knows how to get the best out of you because you trust in him and he trusts in you. He believes in you.”

The experience

It was their first trip to NC State, and the Hampton family was surprised at what they saw during the visit. It started with one unified vision inside the Dail Basketball Center. No matter who they spoke with, each and every one of Wade’s staff members were echoing the same mission. 

The common goal, one that backed up Wade’s preseason press conferences of taking the NC State program back to the heights it experienced under coaches Norm Sloan and Jim Valvano in pursuit of the program’s third national championship, was evident everywhere the family looked.

“Everyone’s on the same page — everyone,” Ron Hampton said. “From the managers to coaches to the nutritionist to the strength and conditioning, everybody has one main goal: To bring this program to the highest. I’m sure it’s a national championship. But it speaks volumes in year one that they’re going to make the NCAA Tournament.”

While the meetings inside the practice facility were useful for the Hamptons to evaluate NC State as a whole with the program’s upward trajectory with the Wolfpack headed back to the postseason this March, they were taking notes all along the way. From practice and shootaround to their game day experience, and everything in between, the Hampton family was intentional about taking it all in. 

Speaking of the opportunity to see NC State play live in person for the first time this season, Ryan and the rest of his family sat behind the Wolfpack’s bench for the 93-64 loss to No. 1 Duke on Monday night. 

The sold-out crowd, paired with Wade’s infectious enthusiasm for winning, created an environment that wowed the Hampton family.

“The atmosphere, the way the fans embrace the team and when Will Wade walked out, it was surreal. He walked out like an American Gangster,” Ron Hampton said. “They cheered for him like he came to save the day, which that’s what he’s coming to do. 

“He’s coming to put NC State back on the map. A game like Duke and North Carolina, those types of games in that arena, you’re going to have to come to play every night. With the fans, the town and everybody behind them, it’s going to happen sooner than later.”

What Hampton is looking for in a program

Although the game day visit featured the Wolfpack’s fifth loss in its last six games (and the third by at least 29 points), the outcome didn’t seem to affect Ryan’s thinking of the program. As his father put it, most of this year’s team won’t be on the floor by the time he enters the college ranks, due to the transfer portal and graduation. 

Instead, the family was focused on watching other parts of the game. They wanted to watch Wade’s in-game coaching, the style of play the Wolfpack deployed and how Ryan, who averaged more than 25 points per game this past summer with Drive Nation on Nike’s EYBL circuit, would fit into the scheme. 

The 6-foot-6, 175-pound scorer has dreams of playing in the NBA just like his older brother did for four seasons from 2020-24. It comes down to what coach and program is most equipped to help him get to that point, something they know Wade is more than capable of doing at NC State. 

“Ryan wants to be an NBA player like his brother. Coach Wade has put players in the NBA, so he’s not foreign to this,” Ron Hampton said. “As long as our goals align with his goals, and his goals align with ours, then they have a shot.

“First of all, you’ve got to see how Ryan is going to affect winning. That’s the main thing. When you get to college and the NBA, these teams want to know how you can contribute to winning. That’s what we’re all about: Winners and winning.”

By the end of the visit, one thing was clear: NC State was a place that Ryan could find success at if he were to commit to the Wolfpack by the end of this process.

Ryan, however, has three more official visits this week. He and his family are going to take their time in the recruiting process. They’re going to sit down to compare and contrast each visit once they go through all of the trips, looking to see which programs stand out even more moving forward. 

It’s likely that they’ll make return visits to top schools, if needed. Reclassifying to the 2026 cycle is a possibility as well, but Ron Hampton stressed that it has to be the “right situation” to have him prepared to adjust to the speed and physicality of the college game. They’re also comfortable with staying in the 2027 class, too, if that’s what will be best for Ryan’s development. 

But the first official visit can always be critical. NC State had a chance to set the tone for the rest of the week, which is exactly what Wade and his staff seemed to have done.

“It was Ryan’s first official visit, and he loved it,” Ron Hampton said. “But I said, ‘You’ve got more.’ If we have three or four more like this, then it’s going to be a tough choice. Being his first official visit, he loved it.”