Kyle Hamilton Fifth FWAA All-American In Brian Kelly Era At Notre Dame

Earlier this week, Notre Dame safety Kyle Hamilton was named an FWAA Freshman All-American — just the fifth player to be named to the prestigious rookie squad during Brian Kelly's tenure with the Fighting Irish and the first since 2015.

The 6-4, 210-pound defensive back spent most of the year coming off the bench behind seniors Alohi Gilman and Jalen Elliott. He averaged just over 30 snaps a game according to Pro Football Focus.

Get a FREE 60-day trial using promo code Irish60

Still, Hamilton managed to lead the team in interceptions with four and was tied for second in total pass deflections with six. He was also excellent in coverage. Targeted 23 times this season, he allowed just seven catches for a total of 74 yards and 17 yards after the catch.

This earned him a 89.8 Pro Football Focus coverage grade, by far the best on the team.

His production was so good that, even in a reserve role, Hamilton was named one of Pro Football Focus' top returning defensive backs in 2020.

"That production paved the way to just a 1.3 passer rating allowed," wrote Pro Football Focus' Anthony Treash. "He reads quarterbacks like books and made special plays all year long — he’ll be a vital piece to the Irish secondary over the next couple of seasons."

Hamilton does, however, need to improve his tackling. While he was credited with 41 total tackles in 2019, he missed 10.

While this certainly bodes well for Hamilton having an increased role in 2020, not every Freshman FWAA All-American under Kelly has turned into a future star at Notre Dame. None of the other four ended up being named an FWAA first or second All-American.

The others were kicker Justin Yoon in 2015, linebacker Nyles Morgan in 2014, cornerback KeiVarae Russell in 2012 and defensive end Aaron Lynch in 2011.

Yoon enrolled at Notre Dame as the No. 1 kicker in the country according to Rivals, and he immediately produced for the Irish.

As a freshman, he started as the team's kicker and made 15 of the 17 field goals and 50 of 52 extra points.

Over the course of his career, Yoon made 80.8 percent of the 73 field goals he attempted and 96.9 percent of the 196 extra points he tried.

Against Virginia Tech on Oct. 6, 2018, Yoon became Notre Dame's all-time leading scoring. He finished his career with 367 points.

Even though he was never named an All-American in any of his final three seasons, one could argue that Yoon had the best overall Notre Dame career of any former FWAA Freshman All-Americans.

Coming out of high school, Nyles Morgan was a top-75 player according to Rivals and the No. 5 overall inside linebacker.

While playing in 12 games and starting in four as a freshman, Morgan produced 47 total tackles (tied for eighth-most by a freshman in Notre Dame history) and 3.5 TFLs.

He seemed to regress in his second year in 2015, but then started all 12 games in 2016 and registered 94 total tackles, which led the team.

He was a productive team captain the following year, but he never lived up to his freshman All-American billing or status as a recruit and went undrafted in the 2018 NFL Draft.

Rated the No. 9 overall athlete in the class of 2012 by Rivals, the initial intention for Russell was that he would play running back, but a season-ending injury to incumbent Lo Wood in summer camp formed Russell to move to the defensive side of the ball.

He ended up starting all 13 games that season, including in the BCS National Championship game against Alabama. He ended up with 58 total tackles and two interceptions.

In 2013, he had another productive season and led the team in pass deflections with eight, but due to academic dishonesty, Russell was suspended for the entirety of 2014.

Russell came back in 2015, playing 11 games and finishing with a career-high 60 tackles, 3.5 TFLs, two interceptions, two forced fumbles and six pass deflections. He declared for the 2016 NFL Draft after the season and was a third-round pick by the Kansas City Chiefs.

The No. 28 overall player in 2011, Lynch was technically only the third-best defense end recruit in the class according to Rivals.

He burst onto the scene and, as a freshman, led the team in sacks with 5.5 and quarterback hurries with 14. Lynch also had seven TFLs. Many thought Lynch would be a first-round pick in two seasons, but he ended up transferring in the spring to South Florida — completing his career at Notre Dame.

After sitting out all of 2012, he played 12 games for the Bulls in 2013. He was fairly productive with five sacks and 12 TFLs and was a first-team All-AAC selection.

Lynch ended up a fifth-round selection by the San Francisco 49ers and is still in the NFL with the Chicago Bears.

----

• Talk about it inside Rockne’s Roundtable

• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.

• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @BGI_LouSomogyi, @BGI_MikeSinger, @CoachDeDario and @AndrewMentock.

• Like us on Facebook.