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Hamilton, Madden Earn Walter Camp Preseason All-America Honors

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Notre Dame junior safety Kyle Hamilton and graduate student (super senior) offensive lineman Cain Madden earned Walter Camp Preseason All-America honors from the foundation Thursday, Hamilton selected as a first-team defensive back and Madden garnering second-team offensive line recognition. 

Hamilton was recognized as a second-team Walter Camp All-America honoree in 2020, while garnering a FWAA first-team selection and adding second-team nods from the AFCA and Associated Press. Madden himself was also a 2020 Walter Camp Second Team All-American and an AP Second Team All-American.

Also named to the 2021 Lott IMPACT Trophy Watch List, Hamilton enters his true junior season known as one of the top safeties on the college gridiron. The 2020 Bednarik Award finalist and first-team All-ACC selection led the Irish in tackles that season with 63 in just 11 games, adding an interception (returned 14 yards), six pass breakups and 4.5 TFL (loss of 16 yards). 

Hamilton had a career day in the ACC Championship game, pacing the Irish defense with 10 tackles (a career-high), one interception and an additional pass breakup. Hamilton totaled eight tackles in the first half alone.

Madden, a graduate transfer from Marshall, started 9-of-10 games for the Thundering Herd in 2020. He and the offensive line paved the way for Marshall to outrush their opponents in 7-of-10 games and outpass opponents in six. The Herd also won time of possession in six games in 2020. In addition to his 2020 All-America honors, Madden was named first-team All-Conference USA. 

About the Walter Camp Football Foundation and the NCFAA

Walter Camp, considered the “Father of American Football,” first named an All-American team in 1889. The 2021 season will be the 132nd edition of the team.

In late November, the 2021 All-America teams will be selected by the head coaches and sports information directors of the 130 Football Bowl Subdivision schools and will be certified by Marcum’s New Haven-based accounting firm.

Camp – a former Yale University athlete and football coach – is also credited with developing play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side. 

The Walter Camp Football Foundation – a New Haven-based all-volunteer group – was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of selecting annually an All-America team. The Foundation is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA). 

The NCFAA was founded in 1997 as a coalition of the major collegiate football awards to protect, preserve and enhance the integrity, influence and prestige of the game’s predominant awards. The NCFAA encourages professionalism and the highest standards for the administration of its member awards and the selection of their candidates and recipients.