The Athletic confirmed what Notre Dame football fans have known for a while: junior safety Kyle Hamilton is a freak.

Bruce Feldman of The Athletic revealed his annual “College Football Freaks List” on Monday. Feldman included 101 players from around the country. He only ranked two of them as bigger freaks — which is most certainly a good moniker in this context — than Hamilton.

That’s right. According to Feldman, Hamilton is the nation’s No. 3 “freak” athlete.

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Feldman’s criteria is subjective and simple: “showcase guys who generate buzz inside their programs by displaying the rare physical abilities that wow even those who observe gifted athletes every day.”

Alabama offensive lineman Evan Neal came in at No. 1. Feldman highlighted Neal’s flexibility at 6-7, 350 pounds. Alabama director of sports science Matt Rhea said Neal has the most impressive lower-body power of anyone relative to his size of any player he has seen go through the program.

Michigan defensive end Aidan Hutchinson ranked No. 2. Then came Hamilton, who has a top-end GPS speed of 21 miles per hour, a 41-7 vertical and a 10-8 broad jump according to The Athletic.

Hamilton has next-level free safety size at 6-4, 220 pounds. He’s a ballhawk who also excels in making tackles in space and at the line of scrimmage. There isn’t much Hamilton can’t do on a football field, if anything. He’s a reliable veteran presence in a Notre Dame secondary that doesn’t have much experience to take comfort in.

“We have to have more than Kyle Hamilton, OK?” Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly joked in a press conference this past Saturday.

There aren’t a lot of certainties among the Irish’s defensive backs. Hamilton might be the only one. But he’s a good one to have. A freakish one, if you will.

Two other Notre Dame players cracked the list. Junior defensive lineman Isaiah Foskey checked in at No. 45. Feldman was impressed by Foskey’s 20.8 mph top speed and 1.58-second 10-yard split. Sophomore running back Chris Tyree came in at No. 75. Feldman called him “one of the fastest players in college football”; Tyree has been clocked at 22.3 mph.

Here’s where players from teams Notre Dame will take on in 2021 landed on Feldman’s list. Specific statistics are all according to The Athletic.

The 6-5, 259-pound Sanders recorded 10.5 tackles for loss and 7.0 sacks in his All-AAC season last year. He ran a 4.56 in the 40-yard dash this offseason.

Chenal is one of eight Badgers who can bench press 400 pounds or more per The Athletic. Even at 255 pounds, Chenal has clocked in at 20.95 mph on the GPS.

The 6-3, 213-pound Pierce broke Cincinnati's skill position record by deadlifting 675 pounds. He has averaged 18 yards per catch the last two seasons.

Ridder runs a 4.55 40-yard dash and matches Hamilton’s broad jump of 10-8 as a 6-4, 215-pound quarterback. There is talk of Ridder potentially getting picked in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft.

London also plays for the USC basketball team. The 6-5, 210-pound wideout averaged 29 points and 12 rebounds per game in high school. He had 502 receiving yards in six games last year.

Henningsen was the first Wisconsin walk-on since at least 1990 to start a season opener as a freshman last year. The 6-3, 291-pounder has been clocked at nearly 20 mph.

Feldman: “The Badgers are so well-represented here, even their punter is a stud.” Vujnovich is 6-3 and 230 pounds. His pro agility time of 4.00 is “quicker than most defensive backs.”

Burmeister is an Oregon transfer and the son of a former North Carolina linebacker. He clocked in at 22.53 mph on the GPS this summer.

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