Junior | 6’4″ 216 lbs | Atlanta, Georgia | 03/15/2001

Kyle Hamilton is a safety with great size and athleticism who can handle a variety of roles. His footwork in transition is a work in progress.

Overview:

Kyle Hamilton was a four-star prospect recruited by Notre Dame to play safety. He received numerous All-Region honors and earned an invitation to the 2019 All-American Bowl coming out of high school. Hamilton played right away as a freshman as a major contributor on defense and special teams. As a sophomore, he took over the starting position at strong safety for the Fighting Irish defense and had a strong year in coverage and as a run stopper. Hamilton was asked to play as a deep safety and in the box along with occasional blitz duties.

Strengths:

• Elite size for a safety prospect; tall with bulk throughout and long arms.
• Quick trigger when he diagnoses a play, explosive burst to come downhill and make a stop.
• Great stopping power on contact, rolls hips, and wins almost every collision.
• Demonstrates a strong understanding of the defensive scheme while in zone coverage, undercutting crossing routes and helping his teammates when there are no threats.
• A combination of good leverage, length, and speed makes him viable in man coverage.
• When he has a contact key, locates the football and rakes the catch point to contest catches.
• Explosive, can cover a ton of ground, and has the range to make big plays all over the field.

Areas To Improve:

• Footwork breaking from a pedal is not clean, consistently taking a bucket step when driving forward or opening his hips.
• Pad level can get too high, making it tough for him to break down and tackle in the open field; will whiff at times as a result.
• Stiff hips limit his ability to recover when he’s already made his break and can be exposed by double moves.

Injury Concerns:

• None

Projection:

Hamilton already has rare traits of a big defensive back who can play man, zone, deep, in the slot, or in the box. His size, fierce hitting ability, and ability to play man coverage projects him most favorably as a box safety in a single-high scheme. However, he shows flashes as a deep safety with the range to make plays all over the field. Hamilton can polish his footwork from a backpedal in 2021 to completely alleviate concerns over his fit in a two-high safety scheme. Expect Notre Dame to feature him more as a blitzer and moveable chess piece that could bump his draft stock into round 1.

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