Notre Dame football: Kyle Hamilton playing like a top-5 pick against FSU
By Brad Weiss
The Notre Dame football program has an elite safety in Kyle Hamilton, and he is playing like a top-5 pick against Florida State in Week 1.
Heading into their matchup against the Florida State Seminoles, the Notre Dame football team had some questions on both sides of the ball. However, one area where they had no question was at safety, where Kyle Hamilton is one of the best defensive players in the country.
In the first half, Hamilton made his presence felt, as he hauled in his first interception of the season with under four minutes left in the first half. His interception helped set up the Irish’s second touchdown of the first half, and give them a 17-14 lead heading into halftime.
Later in the game, Hamilton made his presence known again, this time helping thwart another Florida State rally. After Florida State scoring a touchdown on their first possession of the second half, the Irish responded, before the All-American picked off Travis for a second time, giving the Irish the ball back up 24-20.
The interception would once again lead to points, as the Irish put together another long drive, which was capped off by Kyren Williams‘s first touchdown of the season.
Notre Dame football has not had a first-round pick in the last two drafts
Incredibly, the Irish have not had a first-round pick in the last two NFL Drafts, but that is certainly something that is going to change next April. Hamilton showed on Sunday night, on national television that he is the kind of player that NFL teams can build a secondary around, and it is going to be a lot of fun to watch him in his final season in South Bend.
There is still a lot of game left, but at the time of this piece, the Irish are up 31-20, and it looks like they are starting to put some distance between them and the Seminoles. Teams like Florida State do not go away, so Hamilton and the rest of this defense need to continue to make plays to come out of Doak Campbell Stadium a winner.