SB Nation - Justin Hamilton

What Current Hokie Will Follow Justin Hamilton's Example?

furrer4heisman — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 12:00:16 -0000

A bevy of Hokies are competing for carries and catches during the 2009 season. The Hokies are loaded at running back thanks to freshmen Ryan Williams and David Wilson. They have good depth at wide receiver, but none have separated themselves from the pack.

Not all of these players will be able to get the carries and catches they feel they deserve. But maybe instead of being unhappy about it, they should follow in the footsteps of Justin Hamilton.

Hamilton came to the Hokies as a running back and redshirted in 2001. He spent the next two seasons as a wide receiver since the Hokies weren't very deep at those positions and had Kevin Jones at running back. In 2003, he was second on the team in receptions. With four good receivers joining the mix in 2004, Hamilton was on the move again, this time back to running back where he carried the ball 75 times for the ACC champions.

The biggest move came in 2005. The Hokies had lots of depth at both receiver and running back with the emergence of Cedric Humes, Mike Imoh and Branden Ore. With no room at receiver, either, Hamilton moved to the other side of the field to free safety where the Hokies didn't have a lot of experience.

Hamilton was a significant contributor on one of the best Hokie defenses in recent memory. They led the nation in total defense, were third in pass defense and second in scoring defense. Hamilton was in on 35 tackles and had three interceptions that year.

He turned his newly found defensive skills into a seventh round pick of the 2006 NFL draft by Cleveland and is currently a safety for the Washington Redskins. In my opinion, Hamilton is one of the most self-less Hokies in Frank Beamer's tenure and an example for all Virginia Tech players.

Surely, there are players on the 2009 team who could follow Hamilton's example. Who do you think would be best served by a move to defense, where the Hokies don't have a lot of depth this season?

Michael Green is the 53rd man on the Redskins roster

Skin Patrol — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:42:27 -0000

Seconds ago I posted that Reed Doughty was placed on IR and Justin Hamilton was cut. We were down to a 51 man roster, made to 52 by Shaun Alexander and finally to 53 by, hat tipped to TORB:

The new Redskin is S Michael Green.

Who he calls:

a guy who suffered a bunch of injuries — an achilles, a knee — and has been rehabbing them. Although he too has a Seattle connection, Coach Zorn says that “this is Greg [Blache]’s safety that he’s had for years.”

I wish I knew more about him, but Green has been long enough from the game of Football to be counted among "Historical Players" in the NFL Database. He's had some good years including 100+ tackles seasons in 2002 and 2004. And he's had some bad ones, including the last two he played in 2006 and 2007 when he recorded just one start. As TORB pointed out previously, Green was the most irrelevant person drafted in 2000, by the Bears. His last two prosaic seasons happened to be in Seattle, though as is stated above the connection is more Blache from Chicago than it is Zorn from Seattle.

The ra ra ra go 'Skins news from this is that we scooped a veteran safety who understands our defensive scheme and philosophy and can help the three remaining iron man/young men who managed to avoid triage. Welcome, Mr. Green.

Reed Doughty placed on Injured Reserve

Skin Patrol — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:31:51 -0000

This is actually a two safety loss for the season. Via Redskins 360:

Finally, some news coming out of the Park although none of it is coming from the front office. Reserve safety Justin Hamilton said he's been released and in the process, revealed that safety Reed Doughty has been placed on injured reserve with a back injury.

Elsewhere in the article Hamilton characterizes his protracted survival on the roster as "shock"ing and Reed Doughty confirms that he is proceeding to IR. The article also observes that we're down to a 51 man roster, which leaves room for two mas. One of whom will probably be Shaun Alexander (ED NOTE: Not probably, definitely, he's signed), the other will be some additional free agent safety we pick up, I would bet.

Reed Doughty is a stud. The cidevant starter and sixth round draft in 2006 came into the unenviable position of having to replace one of the best safeties in the league who also happened to be one of the most beloved players on the team. Sean Taylor wears big, big shoes and Reed Doughty was, by most accounts, in over his head. Yet he performed solidly in the role he was auditioned for as we moved LaRon Landry over to ease the transition towards a functioning secondary sans Taylor. Reed was reliable and played a huge role in our late season 2007 rush to the playoffs. This season he didn't look quite so good, especially in contrast to The Predator Chris Horton, who has been surprisingly good thus far. I think we all knew Horton was well on his way to supplanting Doughty permanently as the starter.

Still, Reed Doughty is a member of this team and a contributing one and I look forward to his return. We have been prosperous with both these players and I think all would agree that we get great gas mileage out of these 6th and 7th round draft picks. Everyone loves an overachiever. That whole "back injury" thing scares me -- bad place for booboos no doubt -- but we'll wait to hear more from the training staff on when we can expect Doughty back.

It's now on Kareem Moore, who was actually drafted in front of Horton, to step up and prove his mettle with this defense. And while he will be joined by some as-yet named player to assist in finalizing our secondary, this is his opportunity to make waves with fans and the coaching staff. Earn some snaps, rook.