*** Honors Candidate ***

Career: His 26.8 average per kickoff returnwill rank fourth in school history once he begins the 2013 seasonand meets the minimum of playing two seasons or more. His 913kickoff return yards already ranks ninth all-time at EWU.

2013: Listed as a backup at wide receiver onthe preseason depth chart. He was selected to the College FootballPerformance Awards Kickoff Returner Award Watch List and ranked20th on the preseason FCS kick returner rankings as selected byJosh Buchanan at philsteele.com.

2012: Hill was a member of the College SportsJournal Freshman All-America team and earned honorable mentionAll-Big Sky Conference honors in 2012. Hill, who had a 99-yardkickoff return for a touchdown against North Dakota (10/6/12),finished ranked 17th in FCS and third in the Big Sky with anaverage of 26.8 yards per kickoff return. On EWU’s singleseason leaders lists, he finished the 2012 season ranked in the top10 in kickoff returns (third, 34), kickoff return yards (second,912) and kickoff return average (10th, 26.8). As a backup widereceiver, he caught seven passes for 66 yards. Hill would have hadanother TD in the FCS Playoffs against Illinois State (12/8/12),but the video replay official determined he dropped the ball a yardshy of the end zone and it became a non-scoring 93-yard return(16th-longest in school history). As a team, Eastern was 14th inFCS with a 23.5 average, as Cory Mitchell added a non-scoring67-yard return in the Illinois State (12/8/12) game. Hill hadkickoff returns of 99 (eighth-best in school history) and 41 yardsagainst North Dakota (10/6/12) to help earn him ROOT Sports SpecialTeams Player of the Week as selected by the Big Sky Conference. Hewas also the National Kickoff Returner of the Week in the FCS byCollege Football Performance Awards as he sparked EWU to a 34-pointfirst-half outburst in a 55-17 Big Sky win. Hill’s touchdownreturn – Eastern’s first since 2010 – gave EWU a20-10 lead and also helped him earn team special teams player ofthe week honors. After a North Dakota TD with 1:29 left in thefirst half cut the lead to 27-17, Hill struck again with a 41-yardkickoff return to set-up a Vernon Adams-to-Greg Herd TD pass with13 ticks of the clock left. It was the second week in a row thatHill was nominated for player of the week honors after he recoveredan onside kick with 2:19 left to play, which led to the winningscore for Eastern in its 32-26 come-from-behind win over Montana(9/29/12). After that touchdown with 53 seconds to play, Hill hadthe tackle on the ensuing kickoff return at the Montana 18-yardline. That became a key stop, as the Grizzlies drove 62 yards onfive plays, but ran out of time to complete its own rally. Hillalso had the first kickoff returns of his Eastern career in thatgame, returning four for 84 yards and a touchdown to earn teamspecial teams player of the week honors. Eastern’s normalkickoff returner entering the season was All-America wide receiverGreg Herd. But with a knee injury keeping fellow All-America widereceiver Nicholas Edwards out of action, the Eagles elected to haveHill return kickoffs, instead of risking injury to Herd, whoalready suffered a concussion versus Washington State(9/8/12).

2011: Redshirted.

HS: Graduated from Brookside Christian HS inStockton, Calif., in 2011. Selected as a first team selection onthe 2010 Cal-Hi Sports All-State Small Schools football team as awide receiver. He was named the Central California AthleticAssociation’s Offensive MVP. Selected by theStockton Record to its All-Area first team as a utilityplayer. As a senior in 2010, he rushed for 658 yards and seventouchdowns and had 41 receptions for 1,188 yards (29.0 average percatch) and 17 touchdowns. He helped lead Brookside Christian to aSac-Joaquin Section Division VI championship, its first in footballin school history. Brookside Christian finished 12-1 and advancedto the California Interscholastic Federation Division IVChampionship Bowl Game. As a junior running back in 2009, he had1,390 yards rushing and 16 touchdowns. He ran for at least 200yards in four games, including 334 yards and five TDs in thesection semifinals.

Personal: Major undecided. Born 5/12/93 inFremont, Calif. His parents are Parris and Tish Hill.

Kickoff Returns: 2012/34-912-26.8-1 (long of99).