Wither Irish safety Hamilton … There is a lot of buzz around the NFL these days wondering exactly where Notre Dame safety Kyle Hamilton will be selected on April 28th. Hamilton, who was arguably the best defensive player in college football this past season until he injured a knee in the latter part of the campaign, was considered to be pretty much a lock to be a top 5 pick this month, but eyebrows were raised when he was only able to clock a rather pedestrian 4.59 40 time at the combine. Then even more eyebrows were raised when he tried to improve on that time at the team’s pro day, but instead had several teams reportedly timing him in the low 4.7 range. Plus, as dynamic a playmaker he was in college, Hamilton plays a position that doesn’t necessarily play a highly valued position. So, all of a sudden, one is starting to hear whispers that no one should be surprised if Hamilton fell right out of the top 10. At the same time, one keeps hearing that he is likely still very much under consideration by Detroit with the second pick, as well as Houston at #3 and the Jets at #4. Stay tuned!
Meanwhile, nobody should be totally surprised that the ‘hottest’ current guy in this year’s draft class appears to be a defensive guy from Georgia’s national champions. Just not the one of the usual suspects. Indeed, the former Bulldog that one keeps hearing about is LB Quay Walker who is starting to get some buzz as a possible early second round selection. And its not hard to see why. Walker is big at 6-3.5, 240 and ran the 40 in a very fast 4.52 seconds at the combine. Bottom line is that he’s one of several UGA LBs just starting to scratch the surface. There is also something of a buzz that Boston College C/G Zion Johnson could be challenging the likes of Iowa C Tyler Linderbaum and Texas A&M G/T Kenyon Green to be the first interior offensive lineman off the board later this month. Of course, the IOL has never been a highly valued position, at least at the draft, but it appears that the 2022 class there is deep with a couple of names to watch including Cs Cam Jurgens of Nebraska and Kentucky’s Luke Fortner. At the same time, other players who are generating some buzz of their own these days include North Dakota State WR Christian Watson, Houston DE Logan Hall, Wyoming LB Chad Muma, Tennessee CB Alontae Taylor and Baylor FS JT Woods.
