2017 NFL Draft interview: BYU’s Taysom Hill wants opportunity
By Matt Conner
Brigham Young University quarterback Taysom Hill is an athletic marvel and says he’s hoping an NFL team will just give him an opportunity.
There’s the knee injury and the fractured leg. The Lisfranc and the elbow. Taysom Hill’s career at Brigham Young was marked by one injury after another, a series of unfortunate events that kept Hill from finishing several seasons. Still despite the obstacles, Hill’s athletic prowess and natural skills kept him atop the depth chart, the coveted starting quarterback spot was his whenever he was healthy, no matter how tough the road to recovery.
Despite the injury history, Hill is excited about his pro career and says he’s just hungry for an opportunity to show what he can do. NFL scouts saw exactly that at his pro day recently, with a 40-yard dash time that would have clocked in as the fastest among quarterbacks at the NFL Combine and a vertical leap that would have placed in the top 15 among all players. An athletic marvel, Hill is even open to a position change. He’s just hungry for that chance.
Q: Before we discuss your pro career, how does it feel to know the college career is finished?
A: That is something I guess hasn’t really set in yet. I think it probably won’t set in until I’m watching BYU play on TV and I’m not a part of it. The hope is that I’ll be playing in the NFL, so that realization will be fine, because my football career is still going on. But you definitely think about it. Winter is a fun time to spend with your teammates. We spend a lot of time together working out, getting in shape and getting stronger for the upcoming season. I certainly have missed that aspect of it, but again, because I’m still working toward the NFL, still training really hard for something specific, I think it hasn’t made it as difficult to realize, “Man, I’m done and I’m not a part of Brigham Young football anymore.”
Is there a moment you’re most proud of or a game that stands out most?
A: It’s hard to distinguish between games. I don’t know the exact number of games I’ve played, but I’ve had a lot of great games and been a part of a lot of big wins. Certainly beating Texas and then going on the road and beating them again was a highlight. I remember the first time we played them, we’d come off a tough loss the previous week. Then we were finally home and I don’t think a lot of people had some big expectations from us, but we won that game by multiple touchdowns.
I remember following that game, it was 3:00 in the morning and I was still awake with adrenaline and excitement and all those things. I remember getting a few phone calls from teammates saying, “I knew you wouldn’t be sleeping.” I’ve had multiple moments like that that have been a lot of fun that I’ve been able to experience with some of my closest friends. Those moments certainly stick out just because of the relationships with my teammates.
Oh, the other specific game that comes to mind was when we played Houston in 2013…
That shootout!
A: Yes, that’s right. We ended up having a two-minute drive to win the football game. We converted and scored a touchdown with a minute left or something. We ended up winning 47-46 and the game was sealed with an interception from Alani Fua. I think that game sticks out in my mind because it was a total team effort. We needed everyone on our team to win. We were all also exhausted. I think offensively we had 119 snaps or something in that game, so that specifically sticks out in my mind.