‘Drip King’ coming to Liberty: Faceoff specialist will add skill, social media influence to lacrosse team

Caleb-Hamlett-Liberty-recruit — Hammett has more than 2.4 million followers and 200 million likes on his TikTok account.

Highlighting Liberty University's men's lacrosse team's offseason recruiting efforts, Head Coach Kyle McQuillan recently found a premier faceoff specialist from the NCAA Division I ranks in Caleb Hammett, a social media influencer also known as "The Drip King" on his various platforms.

"We went after Caleb and were excited to get a commitment from him simply due to the fact that he is a tremendous lacrosse player," McQuillan said. "He's played lacrosse at the highest level, and he has a ton of experience at a position we were trying to target."

The Flames rotated several players in at the faceoff dot throughout the second half of this past season with sporadic success. Sophomore midfielder Shane Supek won 138 out of 235 attempts (58.7 percent) through 12 games before suffering and playing through a lower-body injury early in a dramatic 14-13 victory over then-No. 2 Utah Valley on March 21 at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields.

With Hammett on the roster, McQuillan plans to use Supek's two-way talent as a middie throughout the 2024-25 season.

Hammett, who won just over 55 percent of his faceoffs (506 out of 919) and picked up 292 ground balls over his three-plus-year career (he red-shirted his freshman season) at the University of Massachusetts, has enjoyed even more success on social media. His TikTok account has nearly 2.5 million followers with more than 200 million likes, while his Instagram page has another million followers and his YouTube Channel has more than 416,000 subscribers with more than 1,100 videos posted to it.

"I'm not huge into social media, but I had a lot of people reach out to me after Caleb's commitment that have communicated that in the world of college lacrosse, no one has more followers," McQuillan said. "First and foremost, he is going to be a huge asset to us as a lacrosse player. If he can help grow and promote Liberty Lacrosse and collegiate lacrosse at the (MCLA) level, it will be good for everybody. If we get some more fans coming to lacrosse games, or more students coming to Liberty, because we have a social media influencer on our team, I am excited about the potential exposure that it brings."

McQuillan said the recruitment of Hammett, who only has one season of eligibility remaining, is not a PR stunt to take advantage of his popularity.

"He's done that on his own," McQuillan said of growing his massive online following. "We may have an opportunity to benefit from it, but I told him if he comes and does what he's capable of doing, to be a dominant faceoff guy for us and help us win lacrosse games, guys are going to welcome him with open arms."

Hammett started posting lacrosse content to his various social media sites during his sophomore season with the Minutemen and quickly built a following online.

"It was a lot of day in the life of when I was at UMass being a lacrosse player," Hammett said. "As time went on, I started posting about my faith, and through the grace of God, I have been documenting my personal story. I feel a purpose in using it now and posting about it all of the time."

He shared the video "HOW MY LIFE WAS SAVED: My Journey with Christ as a DI athlete," last year, and it, like many of his recent posts, has inspired others to start or strengthen their relationship with God.

Hammett said his first trip to Liberty last week confirmed his calling that it was where he needed to conclude his collegiate playing career. Meeting McQuillan and graduate Keaton Mohs, the Flames' all-time leading scorer as a midfielder who has one more season of eligibility, sealed the deal.

Caleb-Hammett-commitment-graphic

"I felt God was pulling on my heart to go out to Liberty for a visit," he said. "(Coach McQuillan) is such a standup guy, and I could tell how much he wanted me to play there, so that was a really big factor. I love how faith-centered the school is, and meeting Keaton, who is such an amazing guy and someone I really wanted to play with, I could tell that God led me to Liberty. Everything I have comes from Him, and I think it's super intentional that I ended up there."

McQuillan said Liberty's resources and facilities make the program competitive in recruiting players with NCAA Division I talent and attracting transfers. That includes rising senior defender Conor Guiltinan, who was named the Atlantic Lacrosse Conference's Defender of the Year after transferring from NCAA DI High Point last fall.

"I love that Liberty continues to attract young men who want to explore and grow in their faith and play for something greater than themselves, or even their university," McQuillan said.

Hammett is completing his undergraduate degree in sport management from UMass this summer and plans to pursue a one-year certificate through Liberty's School of Business.

"He's met with our (Club Sports) academic team about pursuing a business certificate, and I have a lot of trust that he is going to be able to manage both lacrosse and his social media content very well," McQuillan said.

Hammett said the degree program will allow him the flexibility of schedule to maintain his social media sites, his platform for sharing the Gospel as well as his future career path.

"That is super important to me," he said. "Growing in my faith and leading others around me is way more important than playing lacrosse, which is a cherry on top of it all. I am super excited to be there, and to win a lot of games and hopefully get to that (MCLA DI) championship."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer

‘Drip King’ coming to Liberty: Faceoff specialist will add skill, social media influence to lacrosse team

Players Mentioned

Conor Guiltinan

Keaton Mohs

Shane Supek

Related Videos