Ravens S Kyle Hamilton Talks Jesse Minter, Notre Dame & More with Rich

Kyle Hamilton grew up 20 minutes from the stadium in Atlanta. So when he ended a Sunday Night Football overtime game against the Falcons with a game-sealing interception, in front of his family and friends, he knew exactly what kind of moment it was.

"It was kind of like a Disney movie," the Ravens safety told Rich. "NFL script writers got that one right."

Hamilton went to high school 15 minutes from the stadium and lives 15 minutes away now. He had roughly 30 of his high school friends at the game. His fiance flew down from Baltimore, and his mom, dad, brother and family from Mobile, Alabama drove up. "I felt like I had half of the family section," he said.

**The kid from Atlanta who picked Notre Dame**

Rich wanted to know how a kid from Atlanta ended up at Notre Dame. Hamilton's answer started with a joke, "Korean mother," and then got honest. It came down to Georgia and Notre Dame, and he wanted a different experience.

"I was shunned for a little in my high school because of it," he said. He went to a Catholic high school, so everyone made up eventually. Going to UGA, he felt, would have been like going to high school all over again. Notre Dame meant meeting different kinds of people, getting out of the South, a great academic school with a strong alumni network, and a path to the NFL if football worked out. "That was kind of my elevator pitch to all the recruits, I guess," he said.

**A new approach to the end of games**

After the Atlanta win, Hamilton talked about Baltimore finally closing out a tight one. Rich asked what he meant.

"There's like this dark cloud just over our organization for a little bit," Hamilton said. The Ravens would build leads in the first half, watch them dwindle, and lose close games "in some sort of catastrophic fashion." It happened once this year against the Saints, and he said there has been a mindset shift since. Against Dallas, Lutz made the kick. Against Atlanta, the overtime pick ended it. "We feel like there's a new kind of approach to these end-of-game moments."

Rich, naturally, credited the Michigan man now coaching the team. Hamilton was not having it. Jesse Minter, he said, merely "crossed paths with Michigan at one point." Rich countered that he could show multiple photographs of the block M on Minter's head, and that Minter won a national championship there.

Then Hamilton put Rich on blast on his own show. Off air, he said, he had heard Rich admit to being a pseudo Notre Dame fan. Rich owned it. He is a fan of Hamilton's. CJ Carr is royalty to him as the grandson of Lloyd. He likes Marcus, he loves Bettis and Fitz, who send their kids there. "But at the end of the day, you got to turn to a Michigan man if you want to win," Rich said. Hamilton conceded the rebuttal.

**How Jesse Minter changed the way Hamilton plays**

On the serious side, Hamilton was careful to give his former head coach his due. "All respect to Harbs and everything that he's done," he said. "I don't think the Ravens are the Ravens today without his guidance." Harbaugh is doing great things in New York, Hamilton added. But Minter brings a different approach.

"There is a kind of just a free feeling," Hamilton said. Minter encourages the defense to let it rip in practice. If you mess up, it gets fixed in the film room. The same goes for games. "Don't be worried about not making plays, just worry about making the plays." It sounds elementary, Hamilton admitted, but something that simple frees players up, and it may be making the difference late in games.

Rich called some Chargers games for NFL Network when Minter was across the street in LA with the Chargers, and he remembered Derwin James raving about how Minter put him in positions to succeed. Hamilton said everyone who has played for Minter loves how practical he is. "He tries to color in the lines, but at the same time we got a job to do," Hamilton said. Minter doesn't try to extract emotion that doesn't need to be extracted. "Do your job and do it correctly and we're going to be successful." Some might find it boring. Hamilton likes it because it is blunt.

So does a DB sometimes color outside the lines? "Especially being a DB in the NFL, we do like to color outside the lines," Hamilton said. "There's a special place in heaven for DB coaches in the NFL." Rich brought up Troy Polamalu and Ed Reed freelancing their way into greatness and asked if the overtime pick was one of those moments. Hamilton declined the comparison. "You just mentioned some rare air, so I was inside those lines when I caught the pick," he said. "If you paint outside the lines and it looks like Van Gogh, then you're doing something right."

**Marlon Humphrey and the Browns**

Rich asked whether teammate Marlon Humphrey's characterization of Hamilton's take on Tua's arrival in the game had cost Humphrey a podcast guest. "It's too late," Hamilton said. He has already been on the podcast a couple of times. Humphrey is a salesman, he said, the type who would be head of sales at a Fortune 500 company if he weren't fast and good at cornerback. "Obviously he embellished things a little bit, but I'm not going to get too caught up on it."

Next up was Cleveland, and Rich framed it as a chance for Baltimore to tell the Browns "not yet." Hamilton agreed it is a turning point game for both teams. Cleveland is 3-2 and playing good ball. Deshaun is playing well, there is young talent on both sides, and Denzel is still a top guy in the league. Hamilton has noticed two strong draft classes on film, including Boston at receiver and Harold, the young tight end. For Baltimore, riding three straight wins, it is about stacking games. "If you can get to five and one winning four straight, that looks a lot different than four and two," he said.

**Snoop Huntley and next man up**

Lamar Jackson was ruled out for the Browns game, so it is another week with Snoop Huntley at quarterback. Rich asked Hamilton to give voice to the defense's confidence in him.

"He's proved his worth every time he's gone out there," Hamilton said, adding that it is underappreciated. Quarterback is the most important position in the league and only a handful of guys can get the job done. Having a backup who can win against great teams on the road, like Green Bay last year and Atlanta this year, matters. "We have the utmost confidence in him, just like we do in Lamar," Hamilton said. And Lamar, he added, is probably Huntley's biggest cheerleader in the locker room, doing his best to get him prepared.

**Is Notre Dame winning a national title?**

Rich closed by asking whether Notre Dame wins the national championship this season. "Is the Pope Catholic?" Hamilton replied. Rich offered to have it Googled. It was confirmed.

Hamilton pointed to continuity, something rare in college football these days, especially at quarterback. He has never met CJ Carr and admitted he feels old watching Notre Dame teams where he doesn't know anyone. But Carr has a good season under his belt and receivers he has played with. Hamilton called the defense legit and said Leonard Moore should be the first defensive player taken in this year's draft. "It sounds great on paper and it looks great in my visual perspectives, too," he said. "I think it's us."

Rich, of course, noted that a Notre Dame title would come with a Michigan legacy at quarterback. "All roads lead back to Michigan," Hamilton agreed. His favorite Wolverine? Denard Robinson. Rich admitted he had been fishing for a compliment, but he would take it.