Former Alabama football linebacker, Shaun Dion Hamilton will be a draft steal for some lucky NFL team. Hamilton’s perseverance is undiminished by bad luck.
Former Alabama football linebacker, Shaun Dion Hamilton has had his share of good and bad luck. He is better known for the bad luck of two injuries that ended his junior and senior seasons early. Both injuries took away his opportunity to play in national championship games.
The second injury, a broken kneecap, has caused Hamilton’s draft stock to drop three or four rounds. He is now most likely to be a sixth or seventh round selection. That is quite a fall for a player who last summer was tabbed by Athlon Sports as one of the top 25 SEC draft prospects for 2018.
‘Raised Him Right’
However, Shaun Dion Hamilton is a fortunate young man. Whether defined as luck or blessing, Hamilton was born into a family structure focused on dedication and accomplishment. In southern vernacular, Shaun Dion’s parents ‘raised him right’ and instilled a work ethic and discipline. In USA Today Shaun Dion said,
"I learned to be very disciplined and organized at a young age. As a kid, I would see my dad wake up at five o’clock in the morning to go train. That rubbed off on me. It really helped me get where I am today."
Hamilton modeled his effort after his dad’s military bearing and he never wanted to disappoint his mom.
"I watched how hard he worked every day. He’s been deployed twice. My whole thing in life, I always want to see my mom happy. I never want my mom to stress about me not doing the right thing. It made me grow up fast."
It is no surprise that Shaun Dion became the valedictorian of his high school class. Becoming a leader for Alabama football was also no surprise. And it should be no surprise when he makes an NFL roster next fall regardless of what round he is drafted.
Shaun Dion Hamilton is a Winner
Shaun Dion Hamilton is a winner. Combine numbers and even Wonderlic tests are not well designed to identify winners. In a sports world consumed by analytics, intangibles cannot be quantified. What the NFL has measured so far indicates Hamilton’s strengths and weaknesses are about equal.
NFL team executives also know that teams rarely have enough leaders. They can draft one in Shaun Dion Hamilton and they will get a winner as a bonus. NFL scouts already define Hamilton as one of Alabama football’s “smartest and the brains behind the operation.” The operation is Alabama football defenses and the comparison includes all of the linebackers in the Alabama-Saban era.
Shaun Dion Hamilton and Alabama football were a perfect match. Call it good luck that the player and the program came together. Some NFL team is going to be lucky too.
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As a point of reference, one mock draft has Hamilton going to the Los Angeles Rams in the sixth round. There is still time for Shaun Dion to schedule team workouts since he was not fully healed for the NFL Combine.