HAMPTON, VA (WTKR)- Trent Boykin has been part of countless preseason football camps, but never before has he led a Division I team onto the field as its head coach. That ended Thursday.
Boykin, who was named Hampton's interim head coach in May, opened up the Pirates fall camp on a hot summer morning on the Peninsula. After about three months of preparation, it's all setting in.
"When I walked in this morning, I said 'this is for real,'" he shared after practice. "Even though we've been doing it kind of since May and you go through OTA's, but you're in fall camp and so today was like 'this is real, so let's go.'"
Boykin arrived at Hampton in 2020 and had been the Pirates' running backs and special teams coach before his promotion earlier this year. He has head coaching experience at Lane College, a Division II program, part of a resume that includes 28 years in the profession. Most of his career has been spent as an assistant, so being the guy in the big chair takes some getting used to for the new leader of HU.
"I think the biggest thing is that I'm not coaching a position," he noted. "Being out here with the guys, knowing the guys, kind of getting on the guys, that's kind of normal, but to be able to just walk around to see different positions was different than in the past and in the past for a long time."
"Coach Boykin has been amazing," added redshirt junior quarterback Chris Zellous. "Just changing that culture and getting us to understand what it takes to be a winning team, a championship program and he's not cutting us [any] slack, which is what we need."
Hampton is coming off a 5-6 season, 3-5 in CAA play, and is picked to finish 12th in the conference's preseason poll. The Pirates will have their work cut out for them, facing all three of last season's league tri-champions in Villanova, Richmond and Albany, but feel they're ready to take the next step.
"I think we'll be battle-tested every week," Boykin said. "We're a team that's still young. If you think about this is only our third year in the conference and changing conferences, you have to re-adapt."
"Ride the train, not the roller coaster," Zellous added. "We've got to stay on that straight line. Can't get too high, can't get too low. There's going to be bad days, there's going to be good days, just continue to be consistent in what we're doing and go to work every day."
"All we've got to do is just work on the little things, like we didn't do last year," said senior running back Elijah Burris. "Work on the little things, we're going to get more wins, so I feel like we're going to be straight."
Zellous and Burris are two of four offensive starters returning for Hampton, a team that's replacing its entire starting offensive line. Five starters return on defense.
The Pirates open their season August 31 at home against Morgan State. Kickoff is set for 6:00 PM.
