Overview
Joseph Fitzgerald Hamilton (born March 13, 1977) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in three different leagues. He played college football for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, earning All-American honors and winning several national awards. After his playing career ended, Hamilton became an administrator and coach. He has served as the running backs coach for Georgia State University and currently works in the recruiting department for his alma mater, Georgia Tech.
College career
Hamilton accepted an athletic scholarship to attend Georgia Tech, where he played for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team from 1996 to 1999. He set Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) career records for total offense (10,640 yards), touchdown passes (65) and total touchdowns (83). As a senior in 1999, he was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American, won the Davey O'Brien Award, and was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, finishing as the runner-up in the Heisman voting behind Wisconsin running back Ron Dayne. In 2002, he was named as one of the fifty members of the ACC 50th Anniversary Football Team. Hamilton was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2014.
Professional career
Due to his lack of prototypical height for an NFL quarterback (standing just 5'10"/1.78 m), he fell to the 7th round of the 2000 NFL Draft before being drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In three years with the Buccaneers he only played four downs in a single regular-season game. In 2002, the Buccaneers allocated Hamilton to NFL Europe, where he led the Frankfurt Galaxy to 5-2 record in 2002 before suffering a torn ACL. He spent the entire 2002 NFL season on injured reserve and was released by the Buccaneers at the end of the season. He received a Super Bowl ring following the Buccaneers' victory in Super Bowl XXXVII.
He signed with the Arena Football League's Orlando Predators in 2004 and guided the team to a 9-5 record and the playoffs, despite suffering another knee injury and missing two and a half games.
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