Central Michigan University Athletics
Big Opportunity Awaits Jumbo
8/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- Now, it's Tim Hamilton's turn.
Again.
Hamilton, a 6-foot-1, 243-pound senior, will be the man in the middle this season for a Central Michigan defense that has much to live up to after finishing as the top unit in the Mid-American Conference in 2014.
Hamilton played in all 13 games, drawing four starts, as the Chippewas finished 7-6 last season. The mainstay in CMU's two-middle linebacker set was Justin Cherocci, who went from walk-on to three-year starter to two-time All-MAC performer in his time at CMU.
In 2012 and in 2013, Hamilton got his feet wet and adjusted to the college game while Cherocci shared the middle with Shamari Benton.
The common denominator? All three played their high school ball at suburban Detroit power Brother Rice and the trio played together for one prep season, 2008, when Hamilton was a sophomore, Cherocci a junior, and Benton a senior.
A coincidence all three former Rice standouts landed at CMU? Hardly.
"We've strung together a lot of good ones from Brother Rice," said CMU running backs coach/recruiting coordinator Gino Guidugli. "They're tough, they come from a great program, they know how to win, they know how to work. Hamilton, Justin Cherocci, Samari Benton -- all those guys fall into the same mindset.
"You love to recruit kids from great programs and Brother Rice is obviously that and all three of those guys came in with great football IQs and were tough. And that's been a major reason they've had success."
Following the examples set by Cherocci and Benton worked for Hamilton in high school, and it's working for him at CMU.
"I really enjoyed the Brother Rice tradition and stuff like that and I saw that both of those guys chose to come here so I knew this would be a similar atmosphere," Hamilton said. "That was a big part of my decision to come here.
"More than anything they just taught me about staying humble and working hard. That's something they both preached to me, and to keep a chip on my shoulder and always compete."
Hamilton made 37 tackles including 19 solos last season while splitting time alongside Cherocci in the middle. This year, the neighborhood is Hamilton's domain as the Chippewas move to a 4-3 base defense.
"He's a prototypical mike," said first-year defensive coordinator Greg Colby, using football parlance - mike - for middle linebacker. "He's big, he's strong, (but) not too fast. He's physical and comes up and plays the run real well and he's smart, which can help him overcome some of his speed deficiency with knowing where he's supposed to be and being in the right place.
"And he's a good leader. Tim, I look for him to have a good season this year. We need him to have a good season this year."
It was at Rice that Hamilton picked up the nickname Jumbo. He entered the school as a freshman running back listed at 6-1 and 220 pounds. When Hamilton was in the backfield, the Rice coaches called it the Jumbo Package.
The name stuck. And if Jumbo has a big year, CMU could be at or near the top of the MAC in total defense despite losing the likes of Cherocci and Pittsburgh Steelers draftee Leterrius Walton.
Big shoes to fill, certainly, but that is almost always the case in college football. Hamilton takes a mature, long-term view of it.
"I remember back in 2012 when Jahleel Addae (now of the San Diego Chargers) left it was the same type of talk," he said. "But Shamari, I remember he used to preach back then, 'It's not rebuilding, it's reloading.'
"You hear the things people say, stuff like 'The defense is going to take a step back' and stuff like that. Guys are going to come in ready to play … We just compete and try to get better every day."
