The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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WHERE ARE THEY NOW? all comes back to a single snap, on an unforgettable late afternoon in South Bend, Ind. Hamilton got his chance and didn't miss, slamming through the 42-yard field goal to give Michigan a 26-24 win over Notre Dame on Sept. 10, 1994. In a series that overflowed in glory and miracles for Irish kickers, Hamilton's moment will never fade. "I've watched the highlight a lot on YouTube, and I've shown my kids," he acknowledged. "Every once in a while my son shows his people, and when we have some friends over, my daugh- ter shows it. It gets into some conversa- tions, and we'll pull it up and watch it. It's a great feeling. I still get chill bumps watching it." So do Michigan fans, while Irish root- ers identify only with the chill. A pho- tographer perfectly captured the mo- ment from behind, a shot that depicts Hamilton booming the ball through the uprights, with the crowd reaction preserved for posterity. You have to search for the football in the shot, but Hamilton knows right where it can be found. Amid a host of Notre Dame-clad fans, a lone Michigan rooter bearing a block "M" is the land- mark for spotting the football. To this day, the shot sparks interest. "I have a big picture in my office," Hamilton said. "That brings up a lot of conversations. It's pretty neat." The placekicker from Boca Raton, Fla., had high hopes when heading north for his college football days. Then-head coach Gary Moeller and his assistants knew how to make an im- pression on a recruit. "I remember Coach Moeller and Cam Cameron came into my house and they put their hands down on the dinner table," he recalled. "They had five rings on them. They said, 'This is what your hand will look like in five years.'" He found out about best-laid plans, and also discovered life in football to be a little tougher than getting wooed in recruiting. His first post-signing day package came from U-M strength and conditioning coach Mike Gittleson, and it wasn't a bouquet of flowers. Instead, it carried instructions about working out in anticipation of becom- ing a full-fledged Wolverine. Kicker or not, Hamilton was expected to arrive in shape. "It said, 'Whatever you've been do- ing up to this point, however hard you've been working, it's not hard enough,'" Hamilton recalled. "I was like, whatever. I'm running three miles a day, kicking 50 balls, lifting and do- ing all this stuff. When I get there, it's a completely different workout. Every- thing is to muscle failure. "Working out the way he wanted me to, the first three times, I remember throwing up. I thought, man, he was right." He also discovered slipping seam- lessly into the starting job at place- kicker represented no easy task. In fact, Hamilton faced two years before he entered the game as Michigan's start- ing field goal man — at Notre Dame, in 1994. He pulled a quad muscle as a true freshman in 1992, and walk-on Pete Elezovic moved into the job. Hamilton tried to battle back, but it only made