Penn State Basketball: Freshman Joe Hampton To Leave Program

Penn State basketball announced on Friday that freshman forward Joe Hampton will leave the program for personal reasons. The 6-foot-7 forward is recovering from an ACL injury and seemed unlikely to play significant time during the 2016-17 season.

“Joe has made the decision to leave the program based on personal reasons,’ Penn State coach Patrick Chambers said in a statement. ‘We wish him the best of luck with his future endeavors.”

The former three star prospect out of Oak Hill Academy in Virginia committed to Penn State early in his recruiting cycle before decomitting in 2015. Hampton eventually committed to the program again in May of 2015 a few months later.

He joined the trio of Philadelphia based freshman in Penn State’s 2016 recruiting haul, Tony Carr, Nazeer Bostick and Lamar Stevens. The group is widely regard as the best in program history and ultimately remain that way even with Hampton’s departure. Hampton’s motivation for leaving is unknown, although the freshman was reportedly struggling in the early stages of summer workouts and was still finding his form physically.

A few weeks out from practice Penn State will rely on junior Payton Banks, Julian Moore, Mike Watkins, Deividas Zemgulis and Stevens at the forward position. Moving forward Chambers and his staff will have a scholarship available for the 2017 recruiting class, a previously unavailable asset.