Former Notre Dame football star in rarified NFL air
The NFL is full of former Notre Dame football stars forging impressive careers, but there’s one particular safety who is standing out from the pack.
Notre Dame football has never had any problem putting guys in the NFL. Those guys tend to have very good seasons and very good careers once they get there.
However, when talking about good, young former Notre Dame football stars, the list these days, has to begin with Baltimore Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton.
Hamilton, a first-round pick in the 2022 draft had a fine rookie season. He totaled 62 total tackles, 2 sacks, 1 forced fumble and five passes defended. But the young safety is putting together an even better season so far this year.
Through just four games he has 21 tackles, 3 sacks, 2 tackles for loss, 2 pass breakups, a forced fumble and an interception.
What’s more, Hamilton is in rarified air when it comes to safeties who have managed to pressure quarterbacks on a regular basis. He’s one of just three players in the NFL this season that have two or more sacks.
The other safeties that have achieved that mark are Harrison Smith (3) of the Minnesota Vikings and Antoine Winfield (2) of the Tampa Bay Buccanneers.
Former Notre Dame football star coming into his own
One of the most interesting thing about how he’s pressured quarterbacks in the NFL is that Kyle Hamilton wasn’t really that kind of player with the Notre Dame football program. In fact, he didn’t have a single sack in three seasons with the Fighting Irish.
That doesn’t mean the safety couldn’t rack up the tackles. He had a career-high 63 as a sophomore.
Hamilton was also someone who could haul down quite a few interceptions. Even in 2021, when he played in just seven games, he had three interceptions. He recorded four picks and a touchdown in his freshman season.
The Notre Dame football alum appears to be headed for a great NFL career. The question now is just how good is he going to be by the end of just his second season in the league.