More Preseason All-America Honors For Kyle Hamilton, Other Irish Players
The preseason All-America team reveals roll on.
Notre Dame players continue to dot them.
ESPN and The Athletic released their 2021 preseason All-America lists earlier this week, and both included Notre Dame junior safety Kyle Hamilton on their first-team defense. Hamilton, a projected top-10 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, was Notre Dame’s leading tackler in 2020. He made 63 stops, 4.5 tackles for loss, broke up six passes and grabbed one interception.
Earlier this offseason, he was the No. 3 player listed on The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman’s “Freaks List.”
“A second-team All-America pick by The Athletic last December, he’s a no-brainer as a first-teamer entering the 2021 season,” The Athletic wrote. “He’s physical and athletic, a hard-hitter with range who was rarely targeted in coverage last year.”
Added ESPN’s Chris Low: "As a sophomore, Hamilton was one of the best safeties in the country. He has a chance to be one of the best players in college football in 2021. At 6-4 and 220 pounds, Hamilton is what Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly calls an ‘eraser.’”
ESPN’s first-team also included Notre Dame guard Cain Madden, a sixth-year senior grad transfer from Marshall who earned second-team AP All-American honors in 2020. He started 31 games at right guard for the Thundering Herd from 2018-20 and projects as the Irish’s starter there in 2021.
“The Irish "struck gold" this offseason with the addition of Madden,” Low wrote. “The 6-2, 310-pound graduate transfer from Marshall brings power, toughness and experience to the middle of a Notre Dame offensive line that lost four starters from a year ago. Madden, nicknamed “Dump Truck,” has 31 career starts and has blossomed into one of the top interior linemen in college football after arriving at Marshall as a walk-on.”
The Athletic’s second-team included two other Irish players, junior running back Kyren Williams and senior center Jarrett Patterson.
Williams ran for 1,125 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2020, his first year as a starter. Patterson has started 21 games at center since 2019 and is the only full-time returning starter on Notre Dame’s offensive line. Notre Dame considered moving him to another position this season, but Kelly said at the onset of training camp he is the starting center.
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