Notre Dame continued the infusion of talent into the defensive backfield when safety Kyle Hamilton announced his commitment today. Scroll right past the rankings for this kid and watch his film, which is against serious competition in the Atlanta area. He can flat-out play, and coaching staffs around the country chased him accordingly. Hamilton is a high-academic, high-character kid who is a plug-and-play fit for the Notre Dame campus in addition to being an elite athlete. This is really an enormous get.

On the football side, what really helps Kyle stand out are exceptional size for a safety, at a confirmed 6’3″ and 188 pounds, and excellent athleticism. He’s as good a centerfielder as you’ll find in this class, and is the perfect complement to strong safety prospect and fellow commit Litchfield Ajavon. The Alohi Gilman transfer, Houston Griffith and Derrik Allen signings, and now Hamilton and Ajavon commitments have stocked the Irish pipeline at safety for the next several years.

Recruiting Service Rankings

247 Sports Composite — 3 star (.8617), #644 overall, #49 S, #64 in GA

247 Sports — 3 star (89 rating), #357 overall, #25 S, #34 in GA

Rivals — 3 star (5.5 rating), NR overall, NR position, #76 in GA

ESPN — Not evaluated

There’s absolutely no way he’ll be a three star by the end of the cycle. Simply absurd.

Cohort

In addition to Notre Dame, Kyle Hamilton holds offers from Auburn, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, LSU, Michigan, Penn, Princeton, Stanford, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt, among others. Georgia, Michigan, and Ohio State in particular were pursuing him.

Highlights

 

Play 1: Blind interception on a dead sprint (how the hell did he even do that?). Play 2: As the single high safety, read the quarterback and bail to the deep sideline for the pick. Play 3: As the single high safety, read the pre-snap motion and shoot down to utterly destroy a block and blow up the play. Play 4: Block a kick. Play 5: Destroy another block and then submarine the ball carrier.

I don’t know how recruiting service evaluations work, but I don’t understand how you can watch more than 30 seconds of his film and not think Kyle Hamilton has elite potential. He’s big, he’s strong, he’s fast, he’s smart. He runs like a receiver and hits like a linebacker. He’s equally adept in man, zone, and run support. He’s a ballhawk. And my goodness, that block destruction – that’s what sticks out for me more than the rest, because it’s not so common in high school players, let alone high school safeties. He needs some polish, sure, but to crib from Gruden, this kid… is a FOOTbawl player.

Impact

We mentioned the pipeline, which makes it very unlikely that Hamilton will need to step in immediately. I think he’ll probably get his feet wet on special teams as a freshman, then push to be in the rotation when Griffith and Allen are juniors. Ultimately, I think he’ll have a chance to be everything we thought we’d see in the last #10 to play free safety for the Irish. Just keep him away from the Mandarin classes and late-night runs for, uh, snacks.

Welcome to the Irish family, Kyle!