It’s the fourth time in the last four years that a Hilltopper has signed a National Football League contract. Bobby Sippio inked with the Kansas City Chiefs a year ago, while Anthony Oakley and Brian Claybourn signed with the Bears and San Diego Chargers, respectively, in 2005. Oakley is set to begin his fourth season with the franchise in the fall.
A 6-foot, 195-pound native of West Paducah, Ky., Hamilton departed the Hill with 149 catches for 2,324 yards, which both set school standards. His 19 career touchdowns also rank third on the school’s all-time list.
Hamilton led the team with 66 receptions, 873 yards and four scores his final year, tying the WKU mark for catches while finishing third on the season record list for receiving yards. That included a 12-catch — which matched the second-highest total in a game on the Hill — 139-yard performance in a win over Eastern Kentucky in the third contest of the campaign, as well as an effort against defending Sun Belt Conference champion Troy in which he caught nine balls for 147 yards and a touchdown. Hamilton also posted seven receptions for 134 yards and two scores while running back a punt 67 yards for a touchdown in a Senior Day victory over Morehead State.
In all, Hamilton collected more than 140 all-purpose yards in five of the Toppers’ last six outings to pace the team with 1,408 on the year. He averaged 24 yards on 12 kick returns and 16.1 on nine punt run backs, and he carried the ball 13 times for 102 yards, an average of almost eight yards per attempt.
As a junior, Hamilton recorded 52 catches for 841 yards and 10 touchdowns, earning third-team All-America and first-team all-Northwest Region honors from Hansen’s Football Gazette. He was also a first-team all-Gateway Football Conference selection after ranking sixth in the country in yards per game and 19th in receptions per contest as well as finishing in the top 75 nationally in scoring and all-purpose yards.
Hamilton paced WKU with four touchdown catches his sophomore season, collecting 20 receptions for 408 yards, while he posted 11 catches for 202 yards and a score in his first year on the Hill.
Off the field, he was selected to the Gateway Conference All-Academic second-team squad as a junior, and he was a two-time member of the league’s Academic Honor Roll.
Former All-American Virgil Livers played for the Bears from 1975-81, while Darryl Drake — who lettered for three seasons on the Hill in the 1970s — has been the team’s wide receivers coach since 2004.
