Deer Lakes grad Fletcher Hammond follows in older brother's footsteps at Allegheny

Here’s the good news for opponents of Allegheny football: They no longer have to worry about defensive lineman Maxx Hammond, who, in the past two seasons, accumulated 93 tackles (13¹⁄₂ for loss) from his defensive line spot.

Now for the bad news: There’s still another Hammond to deal with.

Fletcher Hammond enters his sophomore season as a linebacker with the Gators. As a freshman, at times playing alongside his brother, Fletcher Hammond appeared in all 10 games for Allegheny, recording 23 tackles, including a sack, and forcing a fumble.

It was a nice start for the Deer Lakes grad, who knows he just scratched the surface last season.

“There’s a lot I can improve,” he said, “whether it’s being more physical on the outside and being more sure with my reads and just going for it.”

But Hammond had a good role model in his older brother. As might be expected, there was always competition between the two as youngsters. Many wrestling matches took place in the Hammonds’ backyard, and when they weren’t brawling, they were watching or talking about football.

Fletcher said he learned a lot from Maxx’s example, particularly when it came to college football. And yet, their brief partnership at Allegheny almost didn’t materialize.

Fletcher admitted to exploring his own path when it came time to play at the next level. Perhaps it was time to stop following in his brother’s footsteps.

“Then as I was going to different schools, I found myself comparing them all to Allegheny,” he said. “Allegheny was either up to par or better than the schools I was visiting. That’s when I came to the realization that I really liked Allegheny more than all of them.”

After Fletcher’s freshman season, however, the Gators program experienced a change at the top.

Rich Nagy, who had served as coach the previous four seasons, stepped down to take the job as defensive coordinator at Lehigh of the FCS Patriot League. In came Braden Layer, who had served as the Gators’ offensive coordinator in 2017 and ’18.

Hammond said he took the change in stride and has been pleased with what Layer has brought to the team.

“He makes (practices) exciting always,” he said. “There’s a lot of competition, which pushes all the players on the team.”

Matt Hanhold, Hammond’s position coach last season, was retained on Layer’s staff, so he knows better than anyone what Hammond can provide for the defense.

Hanhold said he can see a marked improvement in Hammond from last season. Aside from the obvious physical maturation brought on by the team’s weight training program, Hammond, Hanhold said, has grown in the mental part of the game.

Not only has he learned more of the nuances of playing his outside linebacker position, Hanhold said, he also has more knowledge of the larger game. Hammond not only knows what his role on the defense is, he knows what everyone else around him is doing.

That complements the unique skill set Hammond brings to the defense.

“Fletcher is long (6-foot-2, 190 pounds), and the position he is playing allows him range,” Hanhold said. “He has a good mixture of being able to be a factor in the run game and in the pass game with what we’re asking his position to do.

“He can play in space, and that’s a rare combination of skill set that you find at this level in somebody of Fletcher’s physical makeup.”

His incremental improvement throughout last season might be summed up best by his performance in the finale against Bethany. It, arguably, was his best game: four total tackles, including his first collegiate sack, and a forced fumble.

Hammond is hoping to carry that momentum over into this season. He got off to a bit of a slow start, making one solo stop in the Gators’ Sept. 2 win over Waynesburg.

“I just want to be more sure, be more physical, be more of a presence on the outside,” he said. “I know there were a few games last year where I struggled with getting off blocks or setting the edges as well as I could.

“I realized (the game was slowing down) last year. The first couple of games I was in there seemed a little bit faster. The game felt fast, and I was more overthinking, and toward the end of the year, I found myself just playing football and playing confidently.”

That Hammond began to “get it” as his freshman season went along was no surprise to Hanhold. He said Fletcher is similar to Maxx in one important way: willingness to take coaching.

“Obviously, two different positions,” Hanhold said. “But both Fletcher and Maxx, the thing that I love about them is they allow us to give them the ‘why.’ And they take that, and they’re coachable.”

Fletcher said he still talks football with Maxx, often getting pointers on how he can keep improving. And regardless of whatever sibling rivalry he and Maxx might have had, Hammond doesn’t hesitate to express his admiration for how his brother provided the template for him to create his own success.

“His toughness, his ability to be coached and his effort. I think that’s something he’s always had since youth football,” Hammond said about his brother. “He was always battling through injuries. He was always one of the smartest players on the field, knowing what he was doing, telling other people what they needed to be doing.

“That’s something I’ve always looked up to.”