Damar Hamlin and Pat Narduzzi have a special bond. Narduzzi took over the Pitt program in 2015, and the 2016 recruiting class was his first full recruiting class he would be able to sign for the program. Damar Hamlin was a highly coveted four-star recruit from nearby Pittsburgh Central Catholic. He held 25 scholarship offers and narrowed things down to Pitt, Penn State, Ohio State, and Notre Dame.

Hamlin, of course, opted to stay home and play for the hometown program. One of the main reasons for his decision was Pitt’s head coach.

“I saw an early opportunity for playing time; that was my biggest reason. And I like Coach Narduzzi’s vision and what he’s doing for the program. I was not coming to Pitt with the last staff. I wasn’t even thinking about Pitt. I didn’t even visit.”

That quote was from Damar Hamlin back in 2016 after he signed his letter of intent.

His career and Pat Narduzzi’s tenure will always be tied to one another it seems. Hamlin was the first big recruiting win Narduzzi had at Pitt, and he's helped shape Pitt's defense into being one of the best in the country in 2019.

Hamlin has started 25 games in a row at free safety for the Panthers. He has 62 tackles and seven pass defections this season as one of the pillars of the Panthers defense that ranks 9th in the country in yards allowed.

Narduzzi has nothing but admiration for the player that Hamlin has become over the past four seasons.

“He's an outstanding football player,” the Panthers coach said of his senior safety. “You see what he's developed into. He started a little slow with those injuries he came in with, and our doctors and trainers did a great job of getting him back, and now you've got an NFL safety, I think. Obviously I don't make those decisions, the NFL does, but that guy is as good a free safety as I've ever coached, a cover guy.”

As good of a free safety as Pat Narduzzi has coached is high praise. He led many outstanding defenses at Michigan State prior to coming to Pittsburgh, and also sent Jordan Whitehead to the NFL at Pitt as well. Hamlin was appreciative of the compliment.

“It means a lot,” Hamlin explained. “He was at Michigan State and they had a lot of players go first round and a lot of players just be impact players and even for me to come here and be here and see people play free safety that I’ve seen and looked up to a little bit and also for me just to start as a corner and just to make the transition to safety basically on my own and then just to be able to adapt and play wherever, that’s just a tremendous - I appreciate that.”

Hamlin’s pedigree coming to Pitt was never in question. He had the high recruiting ranking, tons of scholarship offers, and played for a powerhouse school like Central Catholic. Hamlin was a cornerback, though. Learning safety happened on the fly a bit, and that transition played out during his sophomore season. He took big strides going into his junior year, and even added more to his game before this season.

“One of the biggest things he's had to do in the off-season was improve his tackling, I thought, and shoot, I don't think in spring ball he tackled much with kind of a little issue injury-wise, and he came out this fall and has been like…knock on wood, he's got to tackle a 250-pound back this week, but he's been really good, and I've been impressed with his play, with his attitude, with his leadership in that back end,” Narduzzi said of Hamlin.

As Hamlin’s career at Pitt is down to just two games, it still comes back to the bond with his head coach that kept him in his hometown.

“It’s definitely grown,” Hamlin said of his relationship with Narduzzi. “Through recruiting he basically told me I was going to play right away and even through my circumstances it still happened, so he kept his word there. We’re just still the same 1-2 as we’ve been before I even got here.”

Hamlin is in a good position to hear his name called during the 2020 NFL Draft this spring. He will follow a long line of Pitt players that stayed home, starred at Pitt, and got a chance to play in the league. In recent memory, guys like Tyler Boyd and Whitehead come to mind, and seeing their success helped fuel his decision to come to Pitt.

So when asked about going the route of hometown hero, he had this to say.

“Just being put in that conversation is the reason I came to Pitt in the first place,” Hamlin said of being mentioned with guys like Boyd and Whitehead. “It was to be able to do something like play for my city and give my city a reason to cheer and give them something to brag about. I try to be my own person everyday: work on the things that I’ve got to work on and just do what I can, but as fas as the younger guys I just preach to them what I can preach to them. Everybody’s situation is different, but of course if you could be the hometown hero, why not?”

That’s Hamlin’s pitch to others, and Narduzzi wish he had him around longer to make it.

“You know, Damar has been outstanding, and one of the things I'll never forget about his recruiting process, when he finally committed, and I think he knew he was coming here all the time, he goes, ‘I wish I would have told you earlier; I could have helped even get more guys,’ because I think he's a darned good recruiter, as well,” the Pitt coach said.

Hamlin and Narduzzi get two more games together, and both careers will seem forever linked.