It can be a brutal business, this NFL thing. Hamilton, out of Council Rock North High School, already has been released this spring by the New Orleans Saints. Now he has hooked on with his hometown team, but without the pedigree or sponsorship that a draft choice receives. The length of the road is plain.
It is the first day, though, and the fields are pristine, and so are the dreams.
"When I came out there, I was just making sure I had my mind ready," Hamilton says. "I wanted to be focused. I wanted to get a good stretch in. I'd rather be out here than sit in the locker room.
"I don't sit in the coaches' meetings so I don't really know what my chances are. But it's in my control. I don't want to give them a choice.
"Being a local guy, I know I have a lot of people pulling for me already. But, you know, it is what it is. As an undrafted guy, sometimes you have to make more plays. That's just how it goes. You have to realize where you stand. You have to realize what it takes."
They begin to straggle out of the fieldhouse in twos and threes. A couple look determined. A couple of others jog out with goofy smiles on their faces.
Fifty or so fans are in the stands by now. When wide receiver Jordan Norwood emerges, a half-dozen guys bellow out, "We are . . . Penn State."
About 10 minutes later, when it is Michael Vick who is arriving at the fields, there is no reaction except for one man. He yells, "Hundred-million-dollar quarterback coming your way. Hundred-million-dollar quarterback. Oh, yeah." Vick just runs along for a few seconds with his head down, then half-turns and acknowledges the man from 70 yards away with a look and a raised, waved fist.
A couple of minutes earlier, Kolb and rookie Mike Kafka ran onto the field together.
"Welcome back to Lehigh, Kev," one man shouts, but that's it. Not much really needs to be said. Everybody knows whom everybody has come to watch.
