Antonio Hamilton could be anywhere this Sunday.
He could be in Las Vegas, still as a member of the Raiders, who (then in Oakland) signed him in 2016 as an undrafted free agent out of South Carolina State.
He could be in New York, still as a member of the Giants, who had the first crack at picking him up after the Raiders waived him.
He could be with any number of other NFL franchises that offered him a tryout.
He could still be in Johnston, had the self-described late bloomer given up on football because that growth spurt came too late and the time on the bench kept accumulating at Strom Thurmond.
Instead, this Sunday he's in Tampa playing in Super Bowl LV as a member of the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs.
Work hard all your life to make your own good breaks, and sometimes life throws one your way.
In what Hamilton called an "extreme blessing," the champs scooped him up this spring for his versatility as a defensive back and his league-wide reputation as a special teams ace.
That blessing has him on the verge of the championship – any championship – that has always eluded him.
"I would say for me, personally, it's been a mixed bag of emotions," he said of the buildup to the Super Bowl. "I've never been this close to a championship game and then actually being able to be in position to be preparing for the game. It's like a surreal feeling.
"It's kind of bittersweet, because you work so hard and you see the work that has been put in throughout the course of the year. You feel deserving to be in the game, which we all are. We've got the opportunity. … I want to save it all for Sunday, but it's definitely on my mind. It doesn't seem real, but it is."
Hamilton's used the last couple of weeks following the Chiefs' AFC championship victory over Buffalo to take in the entire process – the start of Organized Team Activities (OTAs), the virtual meetings, the start of training camp, the discussions about how they were even going to get through a season with the specter of COVID-19 constantly looming overhead.
Through it all, he's trying to make sure he really appreciates the journey and how the Chiefs saw something in him that they wanted.
That hasn't always been the case for the fifth-year pro, who shaped himself and sharpened his skills in silence when the opportunities weren't there – he made sure they'd be there soon enough.
"One thing about Antonio, his story is such a unique story," said Strom Thurmond head coach Antwaun Hillary, whose first year as Lee Sawyer's offensive coordinator was Hamilton's senior year with the Rebels. "I can clearly remember him just training hard going into his senior year.
"What I mean by training hard, he came and did the workout stuff with us, but a lot of the hard work and the sweat and all that took place just with him. As an individual, he put in a lot of work when nobody was around. He didn't need us to push him. It was almost like, after that offseason, he just became another player. That's how hard he worked. That hard work is the reason why he is playing in the Super Bowl. He doesn't need anybody to motivate him. He motivates himself to be great, and I think we're seeing that."
There was always a trust and belief – in God and himself – and a vision for himself that Hamilton unblinkingly pursued.
He didn't have the height or speed that makes scouts salivate. He was overlooked on his own high school team. He was on a first-name basis with the bench. His name didn't smudge many fingers in newsprint, even after a complete transformation before his senior season when he finally grew into his body. He went to the University of Pikeville without fanfare, then transferred to walk-on at South Carolina State with his brother Jakar.
But the grind never stopped, nor did his belief in himself.
"I always knew that I was good and that I was an extremely hard worker. You have to put the work in day in and day out, no matter if people are seeing you or not," he said. "It's not about other people seeing you and patting you on the back and telling you, 'Hey, good job.'
"… I knew where it was that I wanted to be in life and I wasn't going to stop just because other people doubted me or they didn't see the potential in me. I kept my head down, and I stayed humble. All of the doubters and the people that didn't see my work at the time, I just used it as fuel. I used it as fuel to propel me to the place where I am today."
The tank isn't on "E" now that he's in the NFL and playing in the Super Bowl. It can't – he refuses to allow himself to grow complacent.
The doubters still linger in a wrinkle in his brain, logs to throw back onto the fire and reignite the blaze.
That's produced five seasons – so far – in the NFL for Hamilton, whose story is one that Hillary has been telling to his current group of Rebels leading up to the big game.
"It's huge. Believe it or not, I've been talking about it all week to the guys, just in class, just telling them, 'We've got a guy playing in the Super Bowl who worked out in the same weight room you're working out in now,'" Hillary said. "Just telling them to dream big, because I can remember Antonio doing the same thing. He didn't let nothing stop him from reaching his goals. Just the hard work that he's put in has been good for us to use him as an example of somebody that can make it. Not only our guys, as far as at Strom Thurmond, but I think all players in the area need to understand that if you just keep working hard the sky's the limit."
Hamilton will be the second Rebel to play in the Super Bowl. Ira Hillary appeared in Super Bowl XXIII – 32 years ago – as a member of the Cincinnati Bengals. That's good company to keep, especially when the list is so exclusive for a program with such rich tradition.
"I've thought about it. It's just surreal. I don't even remember – I'm so far removed from his generation, so I don't even know how that game turned out. I just know that I want to win by any means when it comes to this game," Hamilton said with a laugh.
"I just want to be an outright champion. I just want to be a champion. It would be my first time ever winning the highest award that you can win in a team sport. I never won a state championship. I never won a national championship. Even when I was a conference champion in college, we shared that with other teams because of the record situation. That's all I want to do is just win. When we win it come Sunday, then we can have another conversation on what it feels like."
The Link LonkFebruary 07, 2021 at 05:00AM
https://www.postandcourier.com/aikenstandard/sports/i-used-it-as-fuel-hamiltons-hard-work-humility-take-him-from-johnston-to-the/article_f77fee62-6724-11eb-b686-eb187683d9d7.html
'I used it as fuel': Hamilton's hard work, humility take him from Johnston to the Super Bowl - Charleston Post Courier
https://news.google.com/search?q=hard&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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