SEC’s most underrated: Ryan Hamilton

Leading up to this year’s football season, SEC Sports Line would like to highlight some underappreciated players and units in the conference.  “Most Underrated” has always seemed like “Jumbo Shrimp” to me, so I’ll avoid singling out one player as THE most underrated. 

With that said, Vanderbilt safety Ryan Hamilton is clearly one of the most underappreciated defensive players in the SEC.  Left out of the All-SEC preseason teams, Hamilton is one of two veteran starters returning from last year’s stifling Vanderbilt secondary.

Ryan Hamilton: Vandy's Ballhawk Free Safety

Ryan Hamilton led Vanderbilt’s secondary and was third overall on the team with 51 solo tackles and 104 total tackles.  Four year starter Rashard Langford was 2nd in the secondary with 76.  Despite those impressive stats Ryan’s crucial contributions came in creating turnovers.  With three fumble recoveries and four interceptions, he tied with now Chicago Bear D.J. Moore with seven turnovers collected on the season.

Ole Miss QB Jevan Snead is all too familiar with Hamilton’s gamechanging ability.  On their way to a groundbreaking season in the post-Manning era, in which they worked their way to an early win over once-defeated Florida and a Bowl victory over an offensively dynamic Texas Tech squad, Hamilton proved to be an obstacle in the Rebels’ path.  With Ole Miss up 10-0 in the 1st quarter and threatening to dominate the game, Hamilton returns an interception for a 79-yard touchdown.  His second interception, in the second quarter, led to a fieldgoal which knotted up the score at 17-17 at the half.  He stopped an Ole Miss running play behind the line of scrimmage on 4th and 1 to start off the second half, recovered an Ole Miss fumble on a punt return, and finally intercepted Jevan Snead’s final pass of the game to ice an upset win for the Commodores.

With Ole Miss earning a preseason top 10 ranking, and visiting Nashville in Week 5 as Vanderbilt’s first true home test of the season, Coach Bobby Johnson will be counting on more heroics from Hamilton and other playmakers on the Vanderbilt defense to keep one of the SEC’s best quarterbacks in check.  Hamilton is a player with the experience and ability to play himself into the postseason All-SEC team, even though he was overlooked for the preseason nod.

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