FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 5, 2012
Courtesy of The Sun Chronicle, Written by Danny Crandall
Quite the catch
Jeff Hill has put up these kinds of jaw-dropping, Nintendo-esque numbers before.
The yardage, the touchdowns, the scary yards-per-catch.
Last year he went somewhat under the radar, learning the system, working his hardest, lifting the weights and biding his time as a freshman with the Bentley University football team. Now, he's putting together another one of his unstoppable streaks that almost makes you feel bad for opposing defensive backs.
And this streak, well it's pretty much been a season-long one for Hill, the 6-foot-4 beast of a receiver.
"All I can say is I am damn glad that Bentley appealed to him!" admitted Bentley coach Thom Boerman, whose team has ridden the production of Hill and a run-and-gun offense to a 7-2 record and a favorable seed heading into the Northeast-10 Championship weekend.
Twice this season Hill has been named Northeast-10 Offensive Player of the Week, the latest coming award coming after last weekend's 38-21 Homecoming shellacking of Merrimack College.
Hill matched career highs with eight catches and 196 receiving yards while finding the end zone twice. In that game, every one of his eight receptions resulted in a touchdown or a first down, and five of the eight came on third-down plays. He nearly caught a third scoring pass, but a 39-yard reception ended three inches shy of the goal line.
For the season, Hill is Bentley's leading scorer with 54 points and he has caught 46 passes for 907 yards and nine touchdowns. His average of just under 108 receiving yards per game ranks second in the conference and ninth in all of Division II. Lastly, among the top 70 in Division II in that category (yards per catch), Hill has the highest average per reception (20.6).
Averaging over 20 yards a pop is doable when you only have a half-dozen or so catches, as Hill did last season, but doing it with 46 receptions really says something for Hill's ability to not only make plays, but make big plays.
"While most of his catches are deep sideline routes, he has caught his share of hitches, screens and slants and then ran for yardage," Boerman noted.
To say that Hill has blossomed as a sophomore would be an understatement.
"He's only a sophomore, but he is quickly developing into one of the best wideouts not only in the NE-10, but is also getting some recognition nationally on the D2 scene," said Boerman. "Jeff was certainly a steal for us, although I think people underestimate the talent it takes to succeed in D2. He could be playing up a division, but there are a lot of factors that go into why and how a kid lands at a particular school. Too many D1 coaches use templates to recruit. He needs to be "so tall, so fast, such and such for measurable," but we take a kid based on fit and academic pedigree.
"He comes from a great family and received excellent coaching at Mansfield. He's going to be a force in the years to come; he's only going to get better."
You can only get so much better, but Hill has already made a big jump up in production from playing in eight games as a freshman. In limited time he had six receptions for 156 yards, but half of those catches went for touchdowns. This season, it took Hill all of six quarters to equal that touchdown output.
The season opener was a sign of things to come as he had four catches for 136 yards and two scores in a win over Pace. The next week, in a road win over West Virginia Wesleyan, Hill had touchdown catches of 33, 73 and 46 yards, part of another 196-yard performance.
"Jeff played behind several very good seniors last season. When he got his opportunity in the spring, he definitely impressed and has been steadily improving since," Boerman said. "His biggest strength as a wideout is his pass-catching ability. He makes circus catches. He is long and very athletic. He tracks the ball in the air very, very well. He can flash his hands and literally snatch the ball out of the air before a DB can react. He also has tremendous leaping ability. He is working on his route running and his timing with the QB is getting better.
Those in the Mansfield family of football have seen this out of Hill before.
He fashioned quite a career for himself with the Hornets, a three-sport standout who was also a key cog with the South Sectional-winning basketball team. But some of his most memorable work came on the gridiron, Hill going out with a couple of man-amongst-boys games that helped Mansfield High win the Division 2 Super Bowl.
In a 28-0 Playoff victory over Walpole, Hill had six catches for 106 yards while hauling in three touchdown passes from quarterback George Busharis.
Then, in the Gillette Stadium spotlight, Hill helped the Hornets rally back from down 19 points to Reading at halftime to win the Super Bowl, 29-26. The senior's last game was one of his best, as he had five catches for 192 yards and two touchdowns - long passes of 47 and 68 yards.
"He had a three-game stretch there, from Thanksgiving to the Walpole game and then the Reading game, where he just took it to a whole different level. Just catching the ball and getting open. He was like Brett McDermott was for us the year we won the Super Bowl. He just dominated," said Mansfield coach Mike Redding - the comparison to McDermott high praise when you consider he went on to star at Holy Cross before getting a tryout with the Indianapolis Colts.
"After the Walpole game, we didn't even know if he would play in the Super Bowl, but he had an amazing game. Walpole was playing us pretty physical and we were up 14 or 21 and we decided to take a shot. Jeff made a nice catch but to keep his feet in bounds he tweaked his knee. That was a Tuesday night, so he didn't practice Wednesday or Thursday or Friday. But he still came out and put on a heck of a show," Redding said. "But that's the kind of competitor he is. He loves to be in a big situation, and I think that's one of his strengths."
Sure Hill's competitive edge is one of his strengths, but there are obviously others.
Bentley wide receivers' coach Mike Harrington, who has been on the staff for 33 years, was happy to rattle off a few: "He's improved his route-running, he has deceptive speed, he gets a lot of positive yards after the catch, has very good leaping ability, at practice he works extremely hard, he is respected by his teammates...
"He certainly has the tools to be recognized at the national level."
For Hill, it hasn't been about the awards or the recognition, he considers himself just one of the weapons in quarterback Danny Guadagnoli's arsenal.
"I haven't seen too many double-teams, but if defenses fade a safety to my side, that means (Bill) Kiley is open in the slot, or (Nick) McCarthy or (Sean) Cross will have man coverage," said Hill. "This is a fun offense to be a part of."
Bentley has per-game averages this season of 27 points, 373 total yards and 246 passing yards.
Not too shabby.
And it's no coincidence that Hill's breakthrough season has coincided with the same type of breakthrough by Guadagnoli.
"(Hill and Guadagnoli) stepped up after waiting in the wings behind some very talented seniors," said Boerman. "Quarterbacks have their favorite receivers and Danny's is Jeff. There is a trust that has grown as well as timing between QB and receiver. Bill Kiley and Sean Cross are the other two receivers who make up a solid trio of pass-catchers that Danny has developed with, but Jeff looks to be his favorite target."
Hill and Guadagnoli worked extensively together in the offseason - and no, we're not talking about the intramural basketball title Hill and a bunch of other football players managed to team up to win - more like the 7-on-7 passing league at Harvard.
"I think Danny and I learned a lot from the guys that were ahead of us last year," said Hill. "Most places run the spread offense, it was just learning this system, and it's a lot of fun as a receiver, being a predominantly passing offense. But the line's been doing a great job and we've been doing a better job running the ball, so I just think the offense as a whole has really come together, not just me and Danny."
The biggest difference between high school and college football, Hill, a Marketing major, notes, is the year-round commitment.
"There isn't much downtime. When I was with Mansfield you went to school and, yeah, you put your time in, but everything was after school, and as soon as football season was over it was on to basketball, or track. Now, we have 6:45 lifts before class in the morning, then we practice, watch game film," said Hill, who says he has gained about 15 pounds (most of it muscle) since subscribing to the lifting program. "And you have spring ball in late March and early April, where you get to play against your own defense, and I think that helped our offense a lot, too, because we have a good, experienced defense."
Hill has managed to keep in touch with the Hornet football family, returning to town last summer to work out at the school while interning at EMC. He keeps close tabs on this year's in particular, seeing how his younger brother Brendan is starring at receiver for the Hornets - among the area leaders with 25 catches, 449 yards and seven touchdowns through eight games.
Hill was back to see last Friday night's showdown against North Attleboro, trash-talking the whole ride there with Bentley teammate and former Red Rocketeer standout Bobby Richmond. Hill, though, admitted the ride home wasn't nearly as fun after North Attleboro's 36-21 win.
"(Mansfield) can still win the Hockomock, they just have to finish up strong," said Hill. "Hopefully we can finish up strong too."
