Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / The O-Zone Podcast | DaVon Hamilton on His Impact in 2025, Being Overlooked
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: Oh soon.
- 0:08Speaker 2: Welcome to the Ozone Podcast with Jaguars senior writer John Osher.
- 0:14Speaker 3: All Right, welcome to this week's Ozone podcast. And I
- 0:17Speaker 3: think people who see the guests today are going to
- 0:19Speaker 3: get excited because he's very good in this circumstance and
- 0:23Speaker 3: and a funny guy is there's some pressure to be
- 0:25Speaker 3: funny today. Uh, Jaguars defensive tackle Devon Hamilton, Davon, thanks
- 0:30Speaker 3: for doing this, no problem, and uh, you know, it
- 0:34Speaker 3: strikes me we were talking right for one in the
- 0:36Speaker 3: air sixth year And I always ask guys, you know,
- 0:40Speaker 3: once they get to sort of your stage in your career,
- 0:43Speaker 3: always feel short.
- 0:44Speaker 2: Looking back on it. Six years crazy.
- 0:46Speaker 1: Though, right, Yeah, it's crazy. You know, Like I said,
- 0:49Speaker 1: I've seen a lot, been through a lot. It's blessed
- 0:53Speaker 1: to be here. You've been through COVID, yeah, Urban, yeah.
- 0:59Speaker 3: Peterson and now this, I mean, it's a that is
- 1:03Speaker 3: a lot. So I assume you feel.
- 1:06Speaker 2: Like you know how the NFL works been out right.
- 1:08Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I have a pretty clear understanding of
- 1:11Speaker 1: what's going on.
- 1:12Speaker 2: But it it's got to be through.
- 1:14Speaker 3: And you know, we joke because it's been a long
- 1:16Speaker 3: road for a lot of you guys who've been around.
- 1:19Speaker 3: What is it like for you being a part of
- 1:23Speaker 3: how it feels right now?
- 1:25Speaker 1: Uh, it's pretty cool, you know. I mean, anytime your
- 1:28Speaker 1: team is winning and you feel like your team is
- 1:30Speaker 1: jelling a lot more, I feel like it's very cool
- 1:32Speaker 1: because you obviously, I know what it's like to not
- 1:35Speaker 1: sure be jelling or not be winning, So it's it's
- 1:38Speaker 1: very cool, especially with new people around and kind of
- 1:42Speaker 1: dealing with that change at the beginning of the year
- 1:43Speaker 1: and whatnot. But it's been pretty cool.
- 1:46Speaker 3: I'm going to ask you about the team overall in
- 1:48Speaker 3: a second, but it struck me as I was sort
- 1:50Speaker 3: of preparing for this, Josh Trayvon Smooth being back. You
- 1:58Speaker 3: guys have something special there as a group, don't.
- 2:01Speaker 1: You for sure. I mean we've known each other for
- 2:03Speaker 1: a while. We work out during the off season together.
- 2:05Speaker 1: We try to hang out as much as possible too,
- 2:07Speaker 1: so it's like, you know, you just really just go
- 2:09Speaker 1: and work with your brothers and trying to figure out
- 2:12Speaker 1: what they like to do, what we like to do,
- 2:13Speaker 1: you know, try to how do we won't win this
- 2:15Speaker 1: game or you know, you really rely on one another
- 2:18Speaker 1: more so than anything.
- 2:19Speaker 3: And it's a I assume a special chemistry. You know,
- 2:23Speaker 3: Josh who again he came in. I guess a year
- 2:26Speaker 3: before you did. I feel like this is sort of
- 2:31Speaker 3: your group now, I guess. I mean, I'm sure I'm
- 2:33Speaker 3: getting that with that, but I guess the ownership you
- 2:37Speaker 3: guys must take and what's going on?
- 2:40Speaker 2: Am I getting that right for sure?
- 2:42Speaker 1: I mean, I think I would love to think at
- 2:45Speaker 1: least majority of NFL teams start with their offensive defensive line.
- 2:49Speaker 1: I just have to, you know, and we take extreme
- 2:53Speaker 1: ownership over that as a group between all of us,
- 2:56Speaker 1: and I think that's really what we plan on doing
- 2:59Speaker 1: because we know we can take over games. You know,
- 3:01Speaker 1: you can win games for us as a team. So
- 3:05Speaker 1: that's how we feel.
- 3:08Speaker 3: We were just talking to Traves ETN in the locker
- 3:10Speaker 3: room and he mentioned something sort of.
- 3:11Speaker 2: Out of the blue.
- 3:12Speaker 3: Somebody asked him about this season if it's his best season,
- 3:16Speaker 3: and he really veered off quickly into being his favorite
- 3:19Speaker 3: season just because of how well this team gets along
- 3:23Speaker 3: and the chemistry, camaraderie whatever. You feel that talking to
- 3:28Speaker 3: a lot of guys, why is that and do you
- 3:31Speaker 3: feel the same way.
- 3:33Speaker 1: I just feel like we just hang out a lot
- 3:34Speaker 1: more I mean, guys are willing to hang out a
- 3:37Speaker 1: little bit more outside of the football and be able
- 3:39Speaker 1: to talk about outside stuff outside of football, you know,
- 3:41Speaker 1: care about each other's families, ultimately become closer in that
- 3:46Speaker 1: realm before ever even stepping on the football field. So
- 3:49Speaker 1: I feel like that's been the biggest change I feel like.
- 3:51Speaker 3: Or is that did coaching or management do something to
- 3:57Speaker 3: create that?
- 3:58Speaker 1: Is that?
- 3:58Speaker 2: Or it gets a lot of diff facts lead.
- 4:01Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I feel like it's a little bit
- 4:02Speaker 1: of everything. You know. I feel like guys are just
- 4:04Speaker 1: overall more intrigued and want to be to that level
- 4:08Speaker 1: with one another, and you know, coaching obviously wants to
- 4:11Speaker 1: do that to try to bring different aspects together as
- 4:14Speaker 1: far as like what if it's game day or you know,
- 4:16Speaker 1: stuff like that. You know, but uh, I think that's
- 4:19Speaker 1: a priority of most guys in the team.
- 4:21Speaker 3: Got why are you guys ranked number one in run defense?
- 4:28Speaker 2: What is made.
- 4:31Speaker 1: Unit? Honestly? You get to say our preparation, I mean,
- 4:33Speaker 1: each and every week, that's what we pride ourselves on.
- 4:36Speaker 1: I mean, that's how we win games. And you know,
- 4:40Speaker 1: we really have the guys that can do what we
- 4:42Speaker 1: want to do. So as long as everybody was what
- 4:44Speaker 1: they need to be and we communicate and we talk
- 4:46Speaker 1: it out, I think we can be like right where
- 4:49Speaker 1: we are right now.
- 4:50Speaker 3: How much pride does the group take in that? Because
- 4:54Speaker 3: every time you talk to one of you guys, that's
- 4:56Speaker 3: the first thing you mentioned, it's stop the run so.
- 4:58Speaker 2: You get to do other things.
- 5:00Speaker 3: And for you to stop the run so you can
- 5:02Speaker 3: go to somebody else, yeah.
- 5:04Speaker 1: It happens. But yeah, I mean it's very important for us,
- 5:07Speaker 1: you know. I mean if you especially for a team
- 5:11Speaker 1: that we're about to play. Sure they're they're a heavy
- 5:13Speaker 1: run team, but the team the games that they do
- 5:16Speaker 1: lose or games that they're not running very well. I
- 5:19Speaker 1: mean that's majority of the NFL. I mean, if you
- 5:22Speaker 1: can stop the running back, you can stop there, make
- 5:24Speaker 1: them one dimensional. That's how you win games.
- 5:27Speaker 3: I know you've covered this before, but for the time
- 5:29Speaker 3: I had a chance to talk to you one on
- 5:31Speaker 3: one like this. How high were you off the ground
- 5:35Speaker 3: against Vegas on the play?
- 5:36Speaker 1: I don't even know. You know, I was vertical, I
- 5:39Speaker 1: would assume so, but you know I was just out
- 5:41Speaker 1: there just trying to play.
- 5:43Speaker 2: Say it was twelve feet I'm not sure it was
- 5:44Speaker 2: twelve feet.
- 5:45Speaker 1: It felt like it. It felt like I was floating
- 5:47Speaker 1: up there, you know. But yeah, I was just you know,
- 5:49Speaker 1: trying to play the game, trying to win the game
- 5:51Speaker 1: for us. Actually, I could say I genuinely didn't even
- 5:54Speaker 1: know where we were in the game. I was just playing,
- 5:57Speaker 1: just playing.
- 5:58Speaker 2: Which is probably where you play your best.
- 5:59Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, just not thinking about anything other than
- 6:01Speaker 1: winning a game, you know. And you know, that moment
- 6:04Speaker 1: was so exciting for us. It was a big moment
- 6:06Speaker 1: for us as a team. Sure, you know, it was
- 6:08Speaker 1: a big game for us. So I was excited to
- 6:10Speaker 1: be able to do that.
- 6:11Speaker 3: Now I'm asking these couple of questions to get to
- 6:13Speaker 3: something else, So beary with me. Okay, obviously long snapping
- 6:17Speaker 3: is a topic for you. Tell me what the moments
- 6:22Speaker 3: on the sideline were like when they said, hey, you're
- 6:26Speaker 3: you're going to be up for this. A lot of snaps,
- 6:29Speaker 3: a lot of I mean, you're a chill guys, assume
- 6:32Speaker 3: no panic.
- 6:33Speaker 1: No inside, no, no panic. It's probably been a little
- 6:37Speaker 1: bit a little bit of nervousness just because I haven't
- 6:39Speaker 1: really practiced just for in a minute. And uh, you know,
- 6:42Speaker 1: I had my braces on because you know, the evensive lineman.
- 6:45Speaker 1: You know, it's a little rougher, so I be able
- 6:47Speaker 1: to snap with my brass rather than like being at practice,
- 6:50Speaker 1: I could snap with dout them or whatever. I was
- 6:52Speaker 1: a little bit nerve racking at first, but once you
- 6:54Speaker 1: got out there, I mean I just wanted to make
- 6:56Speaker 1: sure I made all my snaps like two logan and
- 7:00Speaker 1: operation was smooth.
- 7:01Speaker 2: You know that was any of them or when they
- 7:03Speaker 2: released you thought.
- 7:04Speaker 1: Oh no, I was just snapping them and going snapping
- 7:07Speaker 1: and going there or even trying to well trying to
- 7:10Speaker 1: think about it just wasn't.
- 7:11Speaker 3: Yeah, just going I think through the brace, like how
- 7:14Speaker 3: free were your hands? You're still basically dealing with stuff
- 7:17Speaker 3: on them, Yeah.
- 7:18Speaker 1: You know, just a little bit of stuff from the season,
- 7:20Speaker 1: you know. But yeah, it's it's not you know, I'm
- 7:23Speaker 1: not getting a whole bunch of bend in my wrists,
- 7:25Speaker 1: you know. So it's really got more so of palming
- 7:28Speaker 1: more than anything I got.
- 7:29Speaker 3: You that's big time stuff. You had five snaps. It's
- 7:34Speaker 3: still a tight game. Any one of those goes awry, yeah,
- 7:37Speaker 3: it could be a different game. So you knew it
- 7:39Speaker 3: was a moment that you had to come through.
- 7:41Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you know, I had confidence in myself.
- 7:44Speaker 1: I've been, like, like you probably heard before, I've been
- 7:46Speaker 1: waiting for this for like six years, you know, and
- 7:48Speaker 1: I haven't snapped in the game since high school. So
- 7:52Speaker 1: I was excited. You know, I ain't never got the
- 7:54Speaker 1: experience this side of the NFL. You know, special teams,
- 7:58Speaker 1: you know, you know, the guys that play on special
- 8:00Speaker 1: you see it and whatnot. But being out there with
- 8:02Speaker 1: them and seeing how they operate and that type of
- 8:04Speaker 1: deal is a different, different aspect of football.
- 8:06Speaker 2: And I said appreciation for Ross after.
- 8:08Speaker 1: That, Yeah, yeah, for sure, I get it.
- 8:11Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm want to clarify something. It was sort of
- 8:14Speaker 2: your dream to do this, but you would rather never
- 8:17Speaker 2: do it again.
- 8:18Speaker 1: You know. I'm okay with being an emergency guy. I
- 8:20Speaker 1: don't want ever want to be the main quarterback. Yeah, yeah,
- 8:23Speaker 1: I don't ever want to be the main guy. Don't
- 8:27Speaker 1: get that twisted. If I have to, I will, But yeah,
- 8:31Speaker 1: I guess I have a huge appreciation for Ross. I
- 8:34Speaker 1: understand this deal. I get it. You know, I'm gonna
- 8:37Speaker 1: let him step into that realm.
- 8:38Speaker 2: Better to have done it than to be doing it.
- 8:41Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure, for sure.
- 8:43Speaker 3: I got you, And again the irony here is the
- 8:48Speaker 3: media and myself has talked to you about the Vegas game,
- 8:52Speaker 3: about the snap. But you're maybe having your best season
- 8:57Speaker 3: and playing at an extremely high level, which you wouldn't say.
- 9:00Speaker 3: I know you're a humble guy. The everything you hear
- 9:02Speaker 3: is that von Hamilt's a big reason this team's ranked
- 9:05Speaker 3: number one in defense, or I'm going to run defense.
- 9:08Speaker 3: Do you feel like you're playing as well as that?
- 9:11Speaker 1: I mean, I always want to play better. I mean
- 9:13Speaker 1: I'm enjoying the season. I'm enjoying what I have to
- 9:16Speaker 1: do for my team. But you know, I always got goals.
- 9:19Speaker 1: I got to keep on striving for. But as as
- 9:22Speaker 1: far as what I can do for my team and
- 9:24Speaker 1: what my team's asking me for, I think I do
- 9:26Speaker 1: a pretty good job at it.
- 9:28Speaker 3: Did it take a while to get back to where
- 9:31Speaker 3: you were after the back stuff or is that not really?
- 9:35Speaker 1: I just feel like I was coming back that the
- 9:39Speaker 1: year I came back afterwards was a little bit rougher.
- 9:42Speaker 1: But that following year, which is last year, right, I
- 9:44Speaker 1: felt completely fine.
- 9:45Speaker 2: Okay, gotcha, because that was the thing.
- 9:47Speaker 3: For people who don't know, that was a brutal thing.
- 9:49Speaker 3: That you went through in twenty three, so you know,
- 9:53Speaker 3: to come back from that you have talked about a
- 9:56Speaker 3: whole lot, But I know it's not an easy road.
- 9:58Speaker 1: Not at all, get back to where you are. It
- 10:00Speaker 1: was definitely very testing. But at the same time, like
- 10:03Speaker 1: I probably people probably heard them, I'm extremely blessed for it, right,
- 10:06Speaker 1: you know, that was the moment in time where I
- 10:08Speaker 1: really got to become closer with God, learn more about myself,
- 10:12Speaker 1: be with my family a little bit more. So. It
- 10:14Speaker 1: was a blessing in disguise. Really got you.
- 10:18Speaker 3: I'm sure you always appreciated the game, but more of
- 10:20Speaker 3: an appreciation for the game and for playing at a
- 10:23Speaker 3: high level after you go through that for sure.
- 10:25Speaker 1: You know, you know, he don't necessarily know at the
- 10:29Speaker 1: time whether or not you're ever going to come back
- 10:31Speaker 1: and play football game. It gets really real, it does,
- 10:34Speaker 1: and I wasn't sure at the time whether or not
- 10:37Speaker 1: that was going to happen. Like I said, I'm extremely
- 10:39Speaker 1: blessed to be back here, extreme blessed to be you
- 10:41Speaker 1: still playing for the Jaguars got you. You know, I
- 10:44Speaker 1: can't complain about anything.
- 10:46Speaker 2: You strike me, And let me say I get this right.
- 10:50Speaker 3: You play a position that's going to usually be overlooked,
- 10:55Speaker 3: that really doesn't seem to bother you a whole lot.
- 10:57Speaker 1: You know, I find it fun. You know, maybe not
- 11:00Speaker 1: everybody does, you know what. I love to do a
- 11:02Speaker 1: little bit more here and there. Yeah, for sure, But
- 11:04Speaker 1: I mean it's fun for me. I get to make plays.
- 11:06Speaker 1: I get to make other people's jobs easier. You know,
- 11:09Speaker 1: I'm out there serving my teams and my teammates and
- 11:12Speaker 1: allowing them to make plays. I mean, it's always great
- 11:14Speaker 1: to see some of your teammates make plays. You know,
- 11:17Speaker 1: they say they're getting free and you're like, yeah, you know,
- 11:19Speaker 1: I contributed with that, you know. So for me, it's fun.
- 11:23Speaker 3: If somebody asked you, what do you need to do
- 11:26Speaker 3: at your position to play it at a high level,
- 11:29Speaker 3: because most people see gosh and they kind of know, okay,
- 11:31Speaker 3: he's got to do X.
- 11:33Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 11:33Speaker 3: When you come out of a game, how do you say, Okay,
- 11:37Speaker 3: this is what I did.
- 11:39Speaker 2: I'm not satisfying.
- 11:41Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think more so than anything. As a noseguard,
- 11:45Speaker 1: you got to know you got to be smart first
- 11:47Speaker 1: and foremast you gotta be smart. You got to know
- 11:48Speaker 1: what's going on. You got to have some some type
- 11:51Speaker 1: of awareness of what's going on around you and how
- 11:53Speaker 1: this can fit, how somebody's looking at it from behind you.
- 11:57Speaker 1: You know, as a linebacker you're looking at what where
- 11:59Speaker 1: is he going to be out on the block. And
- 12:01Speaker 1: then also just being technically sound. You know, you don't
- 12:04Speaker 1: got the technique to do it. I mean, you can
- 12:05Speaker 1: know all you want, but if you're not technically sound
- 12:07Speaker 1: with that, it's not going to work out.
- 12:09Speaker 3: Because most people would think knows guard. Okay, if you're
- 12:13Speaker 3: Vince wolfworking, can just take up space? Yeah, who is.
- 12:17Speaker 2: A man and human being?
- 12:18Speaker 3: Yeah, but most people wouldn't think the first part of
- 12:22Speaker 3: what you said, which is the awareness part. Yeah, it's
- 12:25Speaker 3: more than just taking the offensive guard and plugging.
- 12:28Speaker 2: A hole with you, right for sure?
- 12:30Speaker 1: I mean yeah, I think Also you're probably the closest
- 12:32Speaker 1: to the ball as well, closest to your man as well.
- 12:34Speaker 1: You know, a lot of things are happening really fast.
- 12:36Speaker 1: So if you can understand what's going on around you,
- 12:39Speaker 1: you can get ahead of plays. You can set up
- 12:41Speaker 1: plays for yourself, you can set up plays for another
- 12:44Speaker 1: Like knowing what what's supposed to happen is a big
- 12:47Speaker 1: part of it.
- 12:48Speaker 2: Got you more to grow for you.
- 12:52Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I'm always trying to improve. I feel
- 12:54Speaker 1: like it's a day to day thing for me. You know,
- 12:57Speaker 1: I'm trying to pick other people's minds and kind look
- 13:00Speaker 1: at different type of film to see what I can
- 13:02Speaker 1: add to my game. So it's always a constant growing
- 13:06Speaker 1: aspect of my game.
- 13:08Speaker 2: Is this the most fun you've had as a player?
- 13:10Speaker 1: Most fun I had? You know so far? Yeah, but
- 13:14Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie. The playoffs was a lot a
- 13:17Speaker 1: couple of years shows, so I'm hoping we get even
- 13:20Speaker 1: further than that, you know, have a little bit more
- 13:23Speaker 1: fun than that. I'm excited.
- 13:25Speaker 3: But to be healthy, sixth year in your prime and
- 13:28Speaker 3: having a season like this good time to be to
- 13:30Speaker 3: Von Hamilton.
- 13:31Speaker 1: For sure, Always blessed, always a good time to all Right.
- 13:37Speaker 3: The last thing we do here called the Zone five five.
- 13:44Speaker 2: Quick questions, Von Hamilton, what was your last binge watch?
- 13:48Speaker 1: Last binge watch? That's a tough one. Probably a new girl,
- 13:55Speaker 1: Probably a new girl. It's a funny show.
- 13:57Speaker 2: It's good, I've got I've gone through it twice.
- 14:00Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think I'm on my third or four
- 14:01Speaker 1: time now.
- 14:02Speaker 3: Okay, good, Yeah, it really is pregame ritual of any kind,
- 14:05Speaker 3: anything stand out.
- 14:06Speaker 1: Pregame ritual of any kind. You know, I'm not huge
- 14:11Speaker 1: into that. I just make sure I get warmed up.
- 14:14Speaker 1: People probably notice it when I'm out there. Gotta do one,
- 14:20Speaker 1: got to get there early.
- 14:22Speaker 2: Your go to show as a kid growing up.
- 14:25Speaker 1: Go to show. Honestly, that's the toughest one because I
- 14:28Speaker 1: used to watch a lot of TV. For me, I mean,
- 14:31Speaker 1: probably the most memorable was probably Power Rangers. Waking up
- 14:34Speaker 1: at six o'clock in the morning, get up and watch
- 14:36Speaker 1: the Power Range, good stuff, bull of Cereal. That was
- 14:39Speaker 1: my thing.
- 14:40Speaker 2: My kid used to want me to play Power Rangers
- 14:42Speaker 2: with them all the time.
- 14:43Speaker 1: My bag.
- 14:44Speaker 2: Uh, your you must see athlete ever the athlete?
- 14:49Speaker 1: You know, I always wanted to meet Aaron Donald. I
- 14:51Speaker 1: feel like that would be cool. Michael Phelps, that'd be
- 14:55Speaker 1: cool too.
- 14:56Speaker 2: You know, is airing your gold standard?
- 14:59Speaker 1: I mean, he's definitely the best defensive lineman I've ever seen. Yeah, personally,
- 15:03Speaker 1: so it's hard to argue with that.
- 15:05Speaker 2: But Michael Phelps, why is that?
- 15:07Speaker 1: I know this is a great Yeah, I feel like
- 15:10Speaker 1: it's a lot, get a lot to learn from him.
- 15:11Speaker 2: Yeah, no doubt. Uh, your best football memory, best football
- 15:16Speaker 2: memory college.
- 15:19Speaker 1: I would say my last game as a as a
- 15:23Speaker 1: Buck guy. You know, we played uh Trevor in the
- 15:27Speaker 1: playoffs Clinton.
- 15:29Speaker 2: It was nineteen Yeah, okay.
- 15:31Speaker 1: Yeah, nineteen walking off the field knowing that like my
- 15:35Speaker 1: last time putting on the Buck eye gear. But it
- 15:37Speaker 1: was also like surreal and the fact that you know,
- 15:40Speaker 1: I've been there for five years, I've done a lot
- 15:41Speaker 1: of things, played the best ball I've ever had my
- 15:44Speaker 1: senior year, So it was it was really probably my
- 15:47Speaker 1: most memory.
- 15:48Speaker 2: The first memory had that game.
- 15:51Speaker 1: No, we lost, we lost. I don't want to get
- 15:53Speaker 1: into specifics. No, No, he's cool about it. I remember
- 15:58Speaker 1: even the first time he came in the building together.
- 16:01Speaker 1: He got in the building, I was like, yeah, man,
- 16:03Speaker 1: He's like, I remember you, I got you.
- 16:07Speaker 2: Yeah. It's I can't thank you enough for doing this.
- 16:10Speaker 2: I know during the season.
- 16:11Speaker 3: People don't realize you guys have a lot going on
- 16:13Speaker 3: to take the time to do this and be as
- 16:14Speaker 3: candid as you are.
- 16:16Speaker 2: Very appreciated. Thank you for joining those own podcasts.
- 16:18Speaker 1: No problem