As we near the end of the 2019 calendar year its a good time to look back at everything that went on in 2019 both personally and for our favorite sports teams. We’ll be doing that in the coming days here at Fighting Irish Wire during the course of the week as we continue to get ready for the Camping World Bowl versus Iowa State on Saturday, December 28.
We will unveil the plays twice a day from now through Friday and feel free to leave comments in our forum if you agree or disagree or are just looking for some general Notre Dame or college football conversation.
Without further interruption your Number Nine Play:
Sometimes you know something is special when you first see it, even if you don’t necessarily see it or them do something that special. Keep that in mind as we go through the ninth play.
A year ago at this time Kyle Hamilton was a high school player who was watching his recruiting ratings soar after a fantastic senior year at The Marist School in Georgia.
A year later he looks like the real deal at the collegiate level, intercepting four passes, breaking up six more and making 39 tackles along the way to being named a Freshman All-American by Pro Football Focus.
That is why our number nine play of the year for 2019’s regular season is:
Kyle Hamilton’s interception return for a touchdown versus New Mexico
TOUCHDOWN!
Kyle Hamilton earns himself a PICK SIX in the first score of the year at Notre Dame Stadium!
No. 7 ND 7 – NM 0
📺 NBC#GoIrish #BeatLobos pic.twitter.com/mwD06zmt4G
— The Fighting Irish (@FightingIrish) September 14, 2019
You can forget that it was the first home touchdown of the year for Notre Dame and ultimately it wasn’t a huge play in a game the Irish wound up winning 66-14.
He had a huge impact in the Louisville but that impact came from Louisville altering a game-plan to largely stay away from the true freshman. The same can be said about the USC game where the game plan was built on USC’s extremely talented group of wide receivers not being able to get past the trusted Hamilton.
His pick-six against New Mexico was the first real highlight he had in a Notre Dame uniform and it coming in his first game at Notre Dame Stadium will be the thing of legend when he’s a first round NFL Draft pick in a couple of years.
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No. 10 – Cole Kmet’s touchdown reception at Georgia