An Irish Brotherhood: How Alohi Gilman Saved Kyle Hamilton
When Kyle Hamilton was a freshman struggling to make the college adjustment, senior captain Alohi Gilman shepherded him. Now Hamilton is returning the favor.
By Ryan Mink
In Kyle Hamilton's first college football practice for Notre Dame, he intercepted three passes. When he got back to his dorm that night at Culver Academy, he was "miserable."
Had it not been for Fighting Irish senior captain Alohi Gilman, Hamilton's football career may have taken a dramatic turn. The Ravens also wouldn't have a safety duo with so much chemistry.
Hamilton jokes that Gilman "talked him off a ledge." It wasn't that dramatic, but Hamilton may have left Notre Dame had it not been for Gilman. From there, who knows how things would have turned out.
"I was close [to transferring]," Hamilton said. "I was literally about to go to Georgia because I was like, 'I want to go home.'"
Gilman was Hamilton's first college roommate and among those who convinced Hamilton to stick it out at Notre Dame.
Hamilton went on to have a spectacular freshman year and was a three-time All-American, was drafted by the Ravens 14th overall, and is now the NFL's highest-paid safety. Gilman was a sixth-round pick of the Los Angeles Chargers who has grown into a full-time starter.
Now the two are reunited in Baltimore after the Ravens traded for Gilman last month. They're co-pilots in the Ravens' dramatically improved defense that has surrendered just 13 points per game over the past three contests.
The Ravens traded for outside linebacker Dre'Mont Jones ahead of today's deadline, but they already had one successful trade in their back pocket. The Gilman-Hamilton pairing has paid big dividends, and it all started back in high school dorms in Indiana.
'Nah, Bro, You're Going to Stay'
An Atlanta native, Hamilton had a tough time telling his in-state school, which was fresh off a national championship appearance, that he was headed elsewhere. Georgia was among Hamilton's three finalists.
But after visiting Notre Dame, it felt like a fit for the smart, worldly kid whose mother is Korean, was born in Greece, and spent some of his childhood in Russia. But despite that upbringing, it didn't take Hamilton long to feel homesick as a freshman in 2019.
One of the first challenges came in the weight room. Hamilton was a 6-foot-4 skinny kid who didn't lift much in high school. He couldn't do the standard 225-pound bench press test when he first arrived, so he had to drop down to 185 pounds.
"I remember 'Lo' was spotting me and I probably got like five or six reps of 185," Hamilton said. "He was screaming, trying to encourage me. I didn't know if I was built for it. Those college lifts, you don't sit down for a second. It was a shock to me. But thanks to him and other guys, I got situated, got used to it, learned how to grind."
Notre Dame's fall camp at Culver Academy – a college preparatory boarding and military school – started with a 6:30 a.m. breakfast. From there, it was meetings, a walk-through, then practice for at least two hours. There's lunch and a chance for a quick nap, then straight into seven more hours of meetings and walk-throughs.
"When you're at Culver, it's a sprint," said Chris O'Leary, who became Hamilton's safeties coach at Notre Dame, then held the same job with the Los Angeles Chargers, and is now the defensive coordinator at Western Michigan.
"It is an adjustment, especially when you're in your fourth day and you haven't slept and you're sweating at 2 a.m. on the mattress because there's no air conditioning. Then you got to get back up and do it again. It's tough."
The lack of air conditioning was one of the biggest problems for Hamilton, at least at first. That and extremely high expectations for himself.
Hamilton remembers having a good first practice. O'Leary said it was the best first day he's ever seen from any player in his career. Two of Hamilton's three interceptions came during one-on-one drills, and this wasn't against scrubs. Notre Dame had future NFL receivers Chase Claypool and Cole Kmet, among others.
"Extremely talented, extremely gifted, super cerebral. Kyle was a kid that walks in and immediately you're like, 'Holy cow. This kid belongs,'" O'Leary said. "But he left that day, and I'm sure he felt like he underachieved. He expects to be perfect."
Problem was, Hamilton didn't feel like he belonged. Between the football, strenuous academics, change of scenery – all of it – Hamilton seemed "heavy," O'Leary recalls. Gilman was assigned to be Hamilton's roommate because the coaches had high hopes for the five-star recruit. Coaches essentially told Gilman to, "get him right."
A laid-back Hawaii native with a military background as a Navy transfer, Gilman was the perfect mentor. He showed Hamilton how to work, built up his confidence, and helped him have fun. O'Leary, who also coached Gilman with the Chargers, said Gilman is maybe his favorite leader he's ever been around.
"He's a guy that does everything the right way – loves playing football, loves being a teammate. He's a man of few words, but when he says those words, man, they're impactful," O'Leary said.
"That's how he was at Notre Dame, that's how he was last year with the Chargers. He's the heartbeat of the team and the defense. He was the same way with Kyle. He led by example, he put his arm around him, and then when he said something, whether it was in front of the defense or to Kyle separate, people listened."
Gilman saw a kid who was still figuring out how to use his super athletic, but lanky body. And he also remembers that first day of practice.
"After the first day, honestly, he was struggling," Gilman said. "He was coming up to me like, 'I don't know if I'm going to make it. I think I'm going to go to another team. I'm going to go somewhere else. I'm going to play basketball.' He was a hooper. I was like, 'Nah, bro, you're going to stay. You're going to be all right. Just stick it out. Trust me.' Over time, he built the confidence up to go play. But early on, he was talking to me and crying at night."
Hamilton was so unhappy that he met with coaches, including then-Head Coach Brian Kelly, about how Notre Dame might not be the right fit. All his friends were back home playing in the SEC (and probably had air conditioning).
"It was like 85 degrees in my room. I was like, 'I can't do this.' But that's the beauty and the struggle of Notre Dame," Hamilton said. "I was just homesick. It's a new chapter of life. High school, I had it all figured out. And now you kind of get thrown into a new situation, a new state, meet new people. But he helped me out just in terms of mentally just locking back in and staying focused."
Once back on Notre Dame's South Bend campus, Hamilton was moved from this historic Alumni Hall, which has no air conditioning, to Knott Hall, which does. He went on to grab four interceptions and was named a Freshman All-American.
Hamilton made those plays on his own. He would have excelled wherever he went. But Gilman smoothed out the turbulence of Hamilton's college career and got him on the right track towards being a pro.
"He's a laid-back, low-key guy," Hamilton said. "But he flips a switch on the field, and seeing his focus and leadership from a young age, you've got to fall in line. I think that taught me a lot. Him playing in the same position as me, being in the same room all the time, just seeing how he worked helped me my freshman year. Once he left after my freshman year and I was somewhat the leader of the room, then I kind of knew the ropes at that point."
'It All Fits'
As it often goes with college buddies, Hamilton and Gilman kept in touch over the years but weren't talking every day as their lives went down two different roads.
The 28-year-old Gilman had been on the West Coast playing for the Chargers the past six years. He has a young daughter and a baby boy on the way. Hamilton, who is four years younger, got engaged this past summer.
But when news came on Oct. 7 that the Ravens had traded Odafe Oweh for Gilman, it was a sudden reunion neither saw coming. Gilman was on a plane three hours later and spent 21 of the next 24 hours awake. He had to get ready to play against the Los Angeles Rams just five days later.
It was time for Hamilton to repay his college debt. The two spent long nights together that first week, with Hamilton giving Gilman a crash course in the Ravens defense.
"It's kind of funny how roles are reversed," Hamilton said. "I'm trying to get him up to speed with the playbook and how everything works. It all evens out. I'm glad to have a guy like that in the room. It's been a seamless transition. It just shows you what kind of guy he is."
Gilman played 83% of the Ravens' defensive snaps in that first game against the Rams. Thursday night in Miami, he and Hamilton played all but one defensive snap together, just like the old days.
Gilman's arrival has changed Baltimore's defense in multiple ways. The Ravens are using three safeties almost exclusively, with Hamilton moving closer to the line of scrimmage, first-round rookie Malaki Starks often lurking in the perimeter, and Gilman all over the place. They're all interchangeable.
Gilman has elevated the unit's communication and instincts, taking some of the pressure off Starks, who made his first interception in Thursday night's win in Miami. Head Coach John Harbaugh said Gilman sees things "pretty much before it happens as opposed to when or after it happens."
Gilman has also shown he's capable of making plays. His strip and fumble recovery deep in Dolphins territory set up a Ravens touchdown and changed the momentum of the game in the first quarter.
"He's a complete player back there," Harbaugh said. "It all fits."
O'Leary was smiling watching the game from Michigan, seeing his two Notre Dame guys star together again.
"I am indifferent on the trade because of my loyalties of the Chargers. But what a freaking pickup for you guys," O'Leary said. "When I saw that go down, I was like, 'Oh my gosh, that's going to be the best thing that ever happened for the Ravens defense.' I know what it does for Kyle, how he can move down to the box, but just a calming presence. People feed off Alohi's energy."
After Thursday night's win, Gilman said his reunion with Hamilton has been like riding a bike, or like "two homeboys playing pickup at the YMCA."
"Me and K-Ham just picked up where we left off," Gilman said. "We, obviously, connect on a different level, because we have some experiences together. We have similar personalities. I don't know if it's the Notre Dame in us, but that connection is easy, and I'm just happy to be around him. He's one of the best, if not the best guy in the league, and to be around him, to make plays with him, I'm just having a blast doing it."
