Standout safety glad to be back on FIU football team for 2025
Hill, a safety who checks in at 6-2 and 205 pounds, started all 12 of FIU's games in 2022, making the FWAA Freshman All-America team.
He then transferred, which is where it all went wrong.
'I think I made a mistake leaving,' said Hill, who spent the past two years at the University of Illinois. 'FIU has always been home.'
Hill, who played his high school ball at Miami Springs, got into just one game at Illinois, wrecking his knee while playing special teams.
'I was running down, and I stepped wrong,' Hill said. 'My knee just went. But I'm now healthy and 100 percent.'
Hill said FIU starting cornerback Brian Blades II is one of his best friends on the team. Hill leaned on that friendship to find his way back to FIU and new coach Willie Simmons.
'I had been communicating with Brian, and I finally said, 'Just give me the phone number for Willie, and let me express myself and what I can bring back to this program,' Hill said.
'(Simmons) gave me the opportunity, and I'm going to take full advantage. I'm just trying to be the best version of myself.'
Hill is one of the most proven players on the FIU Panthers.
As a redshirt freshman, he ranked third on the Panthers with 95 tackles. He also totaled 3½ tackles for losses; three forced fumbles; one sack; one interception; and one pass breakup.
After that, Hill said he got bad advice to leave FIU.
'I made my decision (to leave FIU) off of emotions and not on my faith,' Hill said. 'I was getting all kinds of people coming at me from different directions. Go here or there -- this school and this and that. Deep down, I wanted to stay.
'Now I realize that it's not what school you are at, it's what you do while you are at that school. Make a name for yourself, which I did before, and I will do it again.'
Hill, 22, said he is a devout Christian.
'My faith is so deep,' Hill affirmed. 'One thing I've learned is that I can't do it on my own.
'There's a higher power, which is God. I'm nothing without Him. My faith brought me back to FIU.'
Faith aside, Hill is also a big believer in Simmons and the rest of FIU's coaches.
'This coaching staff brings energy that I haven't felt before,' Hill said. 'There are no dull moments around this coaching staff.
'With this new coaching staff and with my best friends on this team, I'm back with my family, and I love it.'
THIS AND THAT
▪ FIU running back Devonte Lyons, although he seems like a quiet sort, told The Herald: 'Oh yeah, I love trash talking.' Asked for an example, Lyons said: 'It ain't for the public.'
▪ FIU running back Kejon Owens, who is in his last season of college eligibility, said he put his name in the transfer portal after coach Mike MacIntyre was fired last season.
But Owens decided to stay at FIU after getting calls from Simmons and running backs coach Benedick Hyppolite.
'They had the vision of putting FIU on the map,' Owens said, 'and that's all I've wanted to do since Day One.'
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