DaVon Hamilton’s Hands Are Valuable Tools
In the world of player evaluation, we talk all the time about “use of hands” when dissecting a player. It’s critical for linemen on either side of the ball to be effective with their hands.
In defensive linemen, specifically, we’re looking to see how a player can use his hands to play off of an OL’s block. In this clip, DaVon Hamilton does a masterful job of hand fighting with the offensive lineman and getting off the block to make a tackle in the run game.
He clubs with his right hand to pin the center’s outside shoulder while simultaneously working an arm-over move with his left. Note how the hands match the feet. He’s sliding over to his right as well.
As the center fires out of his stance, he cannot stay locked onto Hamilton because he’s pinned to the track he started on and cannot adjust his course. Then he gets off balance and overextended and winds up on his face. Having cleared the block, Hamilton gets his eyes on the back and gets in on the tackle.
This is just one of many options in terms of hand fighting maneuvers utilized by defensive linemen, and the good ones will be proficient at several in order to keep the blockers guessing. And those guys are supremely disruptive to an offense’s run game if they can shed blocks like DaVon Hamilton did here.
