Remy Hamilton - College Years

College Years

Hamilton attended the University of Michigan, where he played football from 1993 to 1996. During this first season at Michigan, he only made one field goal. Following the 1993 season, he was suspended from the team for violating team rules. He remained on suspension while police investigated a convenience store theft. After making an impressive 47-yard field goal in his only attempt as a freshman, he lost the kicking job to Erik Lovell in spring practice. Lovell handled the kicking duties in the 1994 NCAA Division I-A football season opener and Hamilton did not get the starting assignment until immediately before the second game. Lovell missed an extra point in the opener, which gave Hamilton his second chance. Thus, before the second game of his sophomore season, he had not recorded any field goals that season and still had a career total of one. However, during the September 10, 1994 Michigan – Notre Dame rivalry game against third-ranked Notre Dame, he made four field goals and two extra point conversions, including the game-winning 42-yarder with two seconds remaining. Notre Dame called a timeout to ice Hamilton, but it inadvertently helped Michigan, which had prematurely packed away the kicking net on its sidelines. The field goal redeemed Hamilton for a missed tackle on a kickoff return, which he felt would have cost his team the game. For his performance, the Big Ten named him the Special Teams Player of the Week. Michigan fans still remember Hamilton for this game, and regularly congratulate him for the kick. Two games later, he had a three-field goal game in the Big Ten Conference opener against Iowa. Hamilton had another four-field goal outing later in the season against Illinois. This earned him another Player of the Week recognition.

He was named to the 1994 College Football All-America and 1994 All-Big Ten teams. Hamilton was a first team All-American selection by the Walter Camp Football Foundation and second team selection by the Associated Press and the Football News. Despite NFL alumni that include Jay Feely, Hayden Epstein and Ali Haji-Sheikh, Hamilton remains the school's only All-American placekicker. During the 1994 football season, Hamilton established the current Big Ten single-season record for successful field goals at 25, which has since been tied three times,. The Big Ten was talented at the placekicker position that season, with four of the twenty semifinalists for the Lou Groza Award being from the conference (Hamilton, Illinois' Chris Richardson, Minnesota's Mike Chalberg and Northwestern's Sam Valenzisi). Hamilton won the NCAA statistical championship for field goal kickers that season. He also set Michigan's single season kick point record with 101 in 1994.

During the 1995 season, one of his more important field goals for the Wolverines came in the 5–0 victory over Purdue. However, when Northwestern beat Michigan at Michigan Stadium, 19–13, for its first victory there since 1959, Hamilton missed a key 37-yard field goal. His 1995 total of 19 field goals ranked second in Michigan history, behind only his own 1994 total. Garrett Rivas tied that single-season total twice, but no one has unseated Hamilton from first and second place.

He also helped the 1996 team take a 9–0 halftime lead and converted an extra point to give them a 16–0 lead in what would eventually be a lose to Northwestern, 17–16. His most notable scoring in 1996 gave Michigan essential fourth quarter points in a 27–20 victory over Indiana. He earned his third Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week honors following a 13–9 victory over Ohio State in the Michigan – Ohio State football rivalry game on November 23, 1996. He put the team ahead, 10–9, on the last play of the third quarter and added a key field goal with 1:19 remaining. A two-time finalist for the Lou Groza Award, Hamilton finished his career as the all-time Wolverine leader in field goals made (63) and field goals attempted (82). Before his career ended, he became the ninth Wolverine to accumulate over 200 points.

Hamilton holds the Michigan record for consecutive field goals made (14) as well as outright or shared school records for single-game (5), single-season (30) and career (82) field goal attempts. His career field goals made record (63) was eclipsed by Garrett Rivas in 2006 by one. Hamilton was a three-time Big Ten All-Academic selection (1993, 1995, 1996). He was also a three-time Big Ten Conference Special Teams Player of the Week (9/12/94, 10/10/94, 11/25/96). His 14 consecutive field goals mark was one short of Vlade Janakievski's Big Ten record, which has since been broken. Hamilton's 63 career field goals were two short of Todd Gregoire's Big Ten record, which has since been broken.