Despite all the wide receivers moving around in free agency, there are still a lot of teams looking for a playmaking wide receiver when the draft rolls around later this month. Former Georgia Tech wide receiver Stephen Hill is starting to draw more attention and climb toward a late first or high second round pick.
Hill has the talent to be worth a first round pick, and he could become a phenomenal playmaker in the NFL. But he’s got to make the case to NFL teams. He doesn’t have the kind of career production of OSU’s Justin Blackmon, who’s projected to be the top receiver off the board, likely in the top 7 picks. But Hill played in a very different offense, and his upside is off the charts.
“I’ve got to sell myself a lot,” Hill said after his Pro Day. “I think everybody has to sell themselves coming out of any offense, but of course I have to sell myself more. Other than that, I feel like the whole process is going great. There’s a lot of work left to do.”
For comparison, Blackmon caught 232 passes over the last two years, for over 3,300 yards in the pass-heavy Oklahoma State offense. He had 121 receptions last year alone. Hill has just 49 receptions in his career, over three years. But Georgia Tech is run first, and as a team, they passed for about one-third the yardage of OSU.
And Hill made the most of those touches. This year, he averaged an astronomical 29.3 yards per reception, as his 28 receptions accounted for 820 yards and 5 TDs. Compare that to Blackmon’s 12.6 yards per catch, and you start to appreciate what Hill was accomplishing. Over his career, he averaged over 25 yards per catch.
He caught a lot of teams’ attention by running a scorching 4.31 second 40-yard dash at the combine, and then he caught everything thrown his direction on his Pro Day workout.
“It’s all about route running and showing that I can catch with my hands,” Hill said. “A lot of my focus [on my Pro Day] was mostly just getting in and out of breaks, but I think I should work on everything. Even if I’m good at something right now, I still need to work on it, even blocking, which we are so accustomed to doing at Georgia Tech.”
Denver’s Demaryius Thomas has successfully made the transition from the Georgia Tech offense to the NFL, and Hill seems to have even more upside than Thomas.
“I believe it can only help my cause that [Thomas] has delivered on expectations after coming out of Georgia Tech,” Hill said. “With [quarterback Tim] Tebow running the offense, they don’t throw the ball a lot, but [Thomas] is still a go-to guy. He’s shown he can make big plays in the NFL. It’s my goal to do the same thing.”
How much did the offense hold him back? Take a closer look at the numbers. Hill is 6-foot-5, blindingly fast, and registered a 39.5 inch vertical at the combine, fourth best among all wide receivers tested. Those are close to Randy Moss numbers. He should be a red zone dream, right? How many times did Georgia Tech throw to him in the red zone? None – he had no receptions inside his opponent’s 20-yard line.
While he doesn’t have the body of work of some of the other receivers in the draft, which is a function of the offense he played in, he has all the physical tools and a great attitude, and could become the steal of the draft this year. And there are a number of teams drafting late in the first round that will still be looking for some wide receiver help, and Hill could help put them over the top.
