Football stories that have one guy talking about another's butt are always a good read - Or Why we Badgers are happy to have P.J. Hill

from jsonline.com

Madison - Not long after John Settle joined the University of Wisconsin coaching staff last winter, he was regaled with stories about P.J. Hill.

Big.

Strong.

Fast.

A punishing tailback.

"I had heard so much about him," said Settle, in his first season as UW's running backs coach. "I was expecting a Jamil Walker type."

In other words, he expected Adonis - a sculpted 225 pounds on a 6-foot-2 frame with so little body fat you'd need a microscope to find any.

When Settle first saw Hill's physique he thought he would be tutoring someone better suited for bowling.

"I wasn't very impressed," Settle said, chuckling.

Then Settle watched Hill run.

"The first time I saw him explode into somebody, I was like: 'Wow,' " Settle said. "He has a knack for that. He is very explosive."

Hill, who says he carries only 235 pounds on his 5-11 frame, doesn't look like a Greek god and never has. His friends and teammates tease him, saying he has the upper body of a 180-pound wide receiver paired with the lower body of a 300-pound offensive lineman. Yet he has been UW's best runner in pre-season camp and should be the starter in the season-opener.

"It shocks a lot of people that I move the way I move," Hill said with pride.

Hill, who grew up in Queens and will turn 20 on Jan. 3, has been defying people's initial perception of his physical appearance and gifts for years.

When he began playing Pop Warner ball at the age of 8, he was immediately penciled in to play on the line, usually on defense.

At age 11, a new youth coach gave him the ball. Hill weighed about 160 pounds at the time and says he had to trim down to 125 to play in the league.

"It was all baby fat," he said. "Before games I used to run laps with a plastic bag on to make weight. But I was committed to the game. I had to do what I had to do.

"I enjoyed it. I was getting the ball and putting points up. Everybody wants to be the person getting the ball."

Hill got the ball often at Brooklyn-Poly Prep. He lettered three years and finished with 4,012 rushing yards in 464 carries, 8.6 yards per carry, and 48 touchdowns. He was the team MVP as a senior when he rushed 166 times for 1,421 yards, 8.6 yards per carry, and 17 touchdowns.

He quickly impressed the UW staff last summer and was set to challenge for the No. 2 tailback spot until he suffered a broken leg in the first week of camp. The injury ended his season before it started and he redshirted.

"Last year I had the chance to play and I got hurt," he said. "I had to get healthy and the time off motivated me…Now I feel I'm ready to go and help this team."

Through the first two weeks of camp, Hill has displayed a feel for finding the proper hole - or making one himself - surprising quickness, the ability to power through tacklers, soft hands as a receiver and a knack for picking up the blitz. And like most productive runners, Hill always seems to be falling forward.

He quickly has earned the respect of his defensive teammates.

"His body is very unique," strong safety Joe Stellmacher said, giggling. "It's nothing I've ever seen in a running back before.

"But once you look at him from the waist down and you see that butt and those thighs, it's nothing to mess around with. He's like a bowling ball back there. You've got to go low otherwise he is going to run you over."

Stellmacher is in his fifth year in the program. During that time, he has faced several talented runners in practice. That list includes Anthony Davis and Brian Calhoun, both of whom rushed for more than 1,000 yards in a season, and Booker Stanley.

Hill, according to Stellmacher, packs the biggest punch.

"He is the most physical back that I've played against here," Stellmacher said. "P.J. is coming downhill. He'll get you that 4 or 5 yards every time and he is looking to run you over.

"He is a different breed of back than we've had here in the last couple years. I've always got to be strapped up when he is coming at me."

Such words from a would-be tackler evoke a smile from Hill.

"I like to use my power," he said. "I like to be very physical and not take the punishment. Be a punisher instead.

"Because when you are the punisher throughout the game you change the way the defense approaches you. You'll end up wearing them out."

Whether you look like Adonis or a bowler.

"On the field, it is performance that really matters," Hill said. "My body is just the way it is. But I perform on the field and that's all that really matters."