It seems as though many people knew Shaun Dion Hamilton would become a football coach. The Detroit Lions linebackers coach figures he came to the realization during his senior season at Alabama.
The linebacker had sustained a broken kneecap in the Crimson Tide’s 24-10 victory over LSU on Nov. 4, 2017. But Alabama had five more games to play, including a 26-23 overtime victory against Georgia in the CFP national-championship game.
“(Defensive coordinator and inside-linebackers coach) Jeremy Pruitt had just taken the job at Tennessee,” Hamilton said. “Getting ready for the playoff game, and so Pruitt’s on the road recruiting and stuff like that, and we have a GA or whatever, and I’m hopping around basically being, like, the linebacker coach.”
Hamilton is preparing for his first season as the linebackers coach for the Lions. It’s his fourth season on Detroit’s coaching staff. He became a defensive assistant in 2022 and worked as the assistant linebackers coach in 2023 and 2024. With Kelvin Sheppard moving up to defensive coordinator from linebackers coach after Aaron Glenn left to become head coach of the New York Jets this offseason, Hamilton moved into the vacancy.
“Some people think I’m relatively young or whatnot,” the 29-year-old Hamilton said. “But I’ve worked extremely hard since I’ve started coaching to prepare myself for this moment. Day in, day out, week in, week out, it’s a 24/7, 365-day grind to set myself up for this opportunity and moment right now.”
Hamilton went straight from the Detroit roster to the staff as the Lions coaches saw in Hamilton what his other coaches had through the years.
“I feel like all of my coaches, from growing up by the time I started playing college ball,” Hamilton said, “they thought that I was very intelligent: ‘One day you could see yourself coaching.’
“We were going through training camp in 2022, and I remember (Glenn) was telling me like, ‘Man, you’re going to be a coach one day.’ I didn’t know my playing days were slowing coming to an end. But after I got released, I met with (head coach) Dan (Campbell), (general manager) Brad (Holmes), AG, and they gave me the opportunity.”
Hamilton earned All-State recognition at Carver High School in Montgomery in 2012 and 2013. After four seasons at Alabama, Hamilton entered the NFL as a sixth-round draft choice by Washington in 2018.
Hamilton played in every game during his NFL career until sustaining an elbow injury on Dec. 20, 2020. Hamilton landed on injured reserve, and he missed the final two games of the regular season and Washington’s 31-23 playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before being waived.
In 46 games, with seven starts, for Washington, Hamilton had 97 tackles, 2.5 sacks, seven tackles for loss, three quarterback hits, one interception, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery while getting on the field for 625 defensive snaps and 822 special-teams plays.
Hamilton joined Detroit as a waiver claim on Jan. 12, 2021, but he went on injured reserve in training camp seven months later after sustaining a torn triceps muscle.
Hamilton had played in the Lions’ first two preseason games in 2022 when he was released.
“It wasn’t hard at all,” Hamilton said of accepting a spot with the Detroit coaching staff. “I tell people every box that any football player could want, I’ve checked. From playing at Alabama, winning national championships, you get drafted, you make it to the league, you made plays in the league – I mean, I’ve checked all my boxes.
“And one thing, I’m a big, like, making a difference in other people’s lives, so what better opportunity than now? I want to be the coach maybe that I never had.”
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at@AMarkG1.