BYU's Hill won't go changing


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — Major injuries that prematurely ended two of his last three seasons are not enough to change Taysom Hill’s style of play.

Ignore any and all talk that Hill will run less this season. When it comes down to it, the BYU senior quarterback will take off whenever he sees fit.

“If you see the end zone right there, you’re going to what you can to get in the end zone,” Hill said. “The conclusion I’ve come to is I’m going to do whatever it takes.”

By now, the BYU faithful know full well the history of Hill’s knee and ankle injuries. The first came as a freshman when a miscommunication between him and then offensive coordinator Brandon Doman led to Hill getting hit on a play in which he was supposed to take a knee to run out the clock against Utah State. BYU’s 4-0 start last season went up in smoke after Hill again went down against the Aggies.

An extremely talented athlete, Hill has always been able to run past most any defender at every level. It would be foolish to surmise that Hill will plant himself in the pocket like some of the great passers in BYU history.

The prediction here we’ll see the same Hill as always. Hopefully, he can have a repeat of 2013 and stay healthy all season.

“I think we’re going to be a little smarter in terms of play-calling to limit the how many times I’m running on a designed QB run,” Hill said. “But I will still be running, for sure.”


If you see the end zone right there, you're going to what you can to get in the end zone. The conclusion I've come to is I'm going to do whatever it takes.

–Taysom Hill


Forget about curtailing the quarterback draw. If coach Bronco Mendenhall and the offensive staff have any brains, they will eliminate the play for Hill. He needs to be free to scramble, but it had better not be a mandate from the sideline.

Former BYU legend and Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer would counsel Hill to be smart about his runs. During his playing days Detmer lived in the pocket and avoided the type of collisions normally reserved for running backs.

But at the same time, he understands Hill’s penchant for relying on his legs.

“For me, I’d like to see him avoid (contact) a little more and get out of bounds or once he gets a big gain then kind of shut it down at the end once it looks like there’s no other hope,” Detmer said. “But as a competitor that doesn’t come through your mind at the time.”

The good news is Hill expects to begin the season at full health. He is finishing up a six-week period in which he has gone through all the team workouts.

“I’ve had no limitations,” he said. “Through that six weeks I don’t feel like I’m in as good a shape as I want to be or as I was in October. I don’t feel as fast as I was, but I’m confident that I’ll get there. The progress that I made from Week 1 of that six-week period to where I’m at now I feel really comfortable with.”

As quickly as possible after the injury, Hill was back working out in a limited capacity. Since the winter, he has done drills he learned a few years ago from attending Tom House’s 3DQB biomechanics facility in San Diego. During the offseason Mendenhall, quarterbacks coach Jason Beck and new strength coach Frank Wintrich visited House’s facility and brought back more instruction for Hill.

“Having the opportunity to do that has helped me in my flexibility, throwing motion and so forth,” Hill said, “and has helped me to become a better quarterback specifically.”

Never short on confidence, Hill believes he won’t miss a beat when the season starts. He anticipates bridging the gap from when he last played in October and expects his teammates to follow suit.

Offensive coordinator Robert Anae said Hill has a full command of BYU’s offense.

“Look, I’ve been playing since I was a freshman, so I think I’ve been in enough game-time situations, and we can mimic those game-time situations through practice that I should be able to jump right in and pick it up,” Hill said. “I would expect from an entire offense standpoint to do what we did last year and do a little bit more.”

In the end, Hill will be Hill. The only difference is he has a deeper perspective.

“That perspective would be to live every moment,” he said. “I don’t know how long I’ll be able to do this for. Hopefully, I’ll have a great senior year and I can continue to play at the next level. But who knows what’s going to happen. So the perspective it’s given me is to take in every moment and make the most of it.”

Related stories

Most recent Sports stories

Related topics

SportsBYU Cougars

ARE YOU GAME?

From first downs to buzzer beaters, get KSL.com’s top sports stories delivered to your inbox weekly.
By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

KSL Weather Forecast