Notre Dame football: 4 Reasons Kyle Hamilton will win the Bednarik Award

The Notre Dame football team has one of the best defensive players in the country in Kyle Hamilton, and here is why he will win the Bednarik Award in 2021.

Despite defense being the strength of the Notre Dame football program in recent years, and expectations still sky high for the unit, only one Irish player was named to the Bednarik Award watch list. You don’t need three guesses to know who.

It’s Kyle Hamilton, the All-American safety and best player on Notre Dame’s roster. Along with Hamilton are names like Derek Stingley of LSU, Jaxon Player of Tulsa, George Karlaftis of Purdue, and Kayvon Thibodeaux of Oregon to name a few of the 80 players added.

The Bednarik Award is given annually to the best defensive player in all of college football. Because awards like the Heisman almost never even consider defensive players, you can look at this as the most important award for defensive players.

It is given out by the Maxwell Football Club, which also distributes the Maxwell Award. The award itself is named after the legendary Chuck Bednarik, a Penn football player who is in both the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame.

It is a relatively young award, having only been given out since 1995 when it was won by then Northwestern linebacker and current Northwestern coach, Pat Fitzgerald. Only one Notre Dame player has ever before won the Bednarik Award, and that was Manti Te’o in 2012.

Kyle Hamilton is one of the best defensive players in all of college football, meaning he’s got a good chance of becoming the second player from Notre Dame to win the Bednarik Award. Here are four reasons why he might.