Trent Boykin has a lot of new pieces of clay to play with this upcoming season.

The Hampton University football coach announced a total recruiting class of 33 incoming players for National Signing Day on Feb. 5. Of the total class, 22 are high school recruits. 

“I still believe that if you want to build a culture, build a program, build unity, you have to start with a base foundation,” Boykin said. “I truly believe that when you can recruit young men out of high school, they are like new clay. You can mold them, teach them your philosophy, your standards, and your way of doing things.

“If you look at the teams that are successful, they’re built off of the foundations of high school students.”

Boykin is entering his first full off-season as the official head coach of the Pirates’ football program. The university promoted him as the interim after abruptly firing former head coach Robert Prunty on May 8. 

The interim tag wouldn’t last long, Boykin became the permanent head coach on Oct. 16.  Even with the added security, though, Boykin has kept his foot on the gas.

“I’m so excited still,” he said. “I still work as if I have the interim tag on. That’s not a bad thing. That’s how I got here.”

Boykin previously served as Hampton’s special teams and running backs coach from 2020 to 2023. Now at the helm, he’s tasked with turning around a program that hasn’t had a winning season since 2018. 

When Boykin took charge last May, the recruiting had already been completed. This time, though, he’s responsible for finding players that fit his vision.

“[They need] the ability to be a great teammate,” he said. “We talk about needers and feeders. Are you a feeder of people, or are you a needer of people? A lot of the time, if you’re watching someone, you already know he can play. You want to know how he is at the school, how he is in the cafeteria, how he is around other students, how he is with his teammates.

“You can have a great football player, but a bad character person, and at the end of the day, I want to win with good people.”

Although Boykin is focused on assembling the groundwork of his program, he also recognizes the need to produce on-field results. That standard became harder to accomplish when four-time NFL Pro-Bowler Michael Vick accepted the head job across the bay at Norfolk State. The Spartans immediately signed five former Pirates from the transfer portal. 

Most notably, Norfolk State convinced receiver and Hampton native Kymari Gray to switch schools. Gray had become a reliable option in his junior year, starting in all 12 games and posting career-bests of 24 receptions, 228 yards, and two touchdowns.

“I think the portal for us will be more of what is needed at that time,” Boykin said about his portal philosophy. “What did they take and how do you replace it? Can I replace it with another freshman, a junior college guy, or a portal transfer? It all depends on what person left.”

Gray was the third-leading receiver for the Pirates last year. In front of him was Dorrian Moultrie, who declared for the NFL Draft, and Brennan Ridley, who is now at Bowling Green.

In their wake, Boykin brought in receiver Tae’Shaun Johnson from Lake Erie College. Johnson had his best year at Lake Erie, catching 65 passes for 756 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns. 

“I chose Hampton because it’s a great opportunity to graduate from a prestigious HBCU,” the redshirt senior said.

Johnson started his college career at Bowling Green, where he spent three years before transferring to Lake Erie. 

“The first transfer was really just proving to myself that I was healthy after being injured my freshman year,” Johnson said. “I wanted to try and make a statement that I belonged on the football field. My second transfer was because I wanted to go to a school and compete for a championship. I wanted to play for something that was bigger than myself.”

Despite the shuffling, Johnson feels at home at Hampton. He says the team made the transition seamless.

“When you put the time in to making a connection with your teammates, speaking to the guys who know the program in and out, it makes everything easier. That’s what makes transferring easy: the guys that’s already there embracing you and helping you out with everything to win and build chemistry.”

Boykin will be looking for Johnson, Maxwell Moss (James Madison) and Jalen Walker (Furman) to become leaders in the receiver room. The running back and defensive line rooms will also need bolstering: bell cow backs Elijah Burris and Tymere Robinson are gone, along with five defensive linemen.

Hampton will also have a “new face under center,” as former quarterback Chris Zellous transferred to CAA rival Stony Brook, and Malcolm Mays graduated. 

There’s one position group, though, that Boykin can’t wait to see on the field.

“I think linebacker, even though there’s a lot of new guys, I think that’s going to be a huge bright spot for us,” he said. “All the guys we brought in, I’m very excited about that group. They really upgraded that room in recruiting.”

Boykin says he and the coaching staff are still hoping to add to the defensive line rotation in the coming weeks. In the meantime, he’s implemented new weight-lifting and conditioning regimens for the players on campus. 

The purpose? Well, winning, of course. But he also wants to establish these habits now so they don’t seem so new at this time in 2026.

“I still feel new at it because this time last year, I wasn’t a head coach,” he said. “Maybe not until May, then I’ll feel like I actually have a full year under my belt.”