Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Shoot, we barely got to know the guy
Randy King
Randy King's Tech Insider is exclusive to roanoke.com and is posted by 5 p.m. Thursdays in season.
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BLACKSBURG -- Brenden Hill isn't the only one who wishes he had another year of football at Virginia Tech. Add the media that regularly covers the Hokies to the list, too.
If there was such a thing as a media-room All-America team, this guy would top the voting. We're talking consensus pick, too. On second thought, make that unanimous selection.
And now I'm casting my ballot for his being a unanimous good, young man, too.
Am I impressed? Yeah, big time.
Honestly, I'm just glad I got to know Brenden Hill before he left this place. If not so, it would have been my loss.
OK, I confess. Hill had been in the Tech program for four seasons prior to this fall. I never talked to him once. Didn't have to. The kid had done next to nothing on the field. In fact, until this season, the only headlines Hill had generated in Blacksburg was for his involvement with teammates Marcus Vick and Mike Imoh for a January 2004 misdemeanor charge for contributing to the deliquency of a minor after a night of drinking with underage girls at Vick's apartment.
Like his famous friend Vick, Hill pleaded no contest and settled on plea agreements that erased two of the three misdemeanor counts and kept them out of jail. Hill paid his $100 fine and performed 24 hours of community service.
Last January, Vick was booted out of Tech after his infamous Gator Bowl stomp of Louisville defensive end Elvis Dumervil. Meanwhile, Hill was still in the Tech program, thanks to the good graces of Frank Beamer.
Say what you want about Beamer, but the Tech coach was dead right on this one. He knew Brenden Hill. And, boy, what a story the kid has authored since.
Not only did he become a starter in his final college season, Hill has been one of the stalwarts on a defense that ranks among the nation's best.
In Tech's 35-10 romp at North Carolina on Sept. 9, Hill picked off a pass and returned it 69 yards for a touchdown. Afterwards, in the bowels of UNC's Kenan Stadium, I'll never forget asking Tech assistant sports information director B.J. Johnston: "Who is that guy?"
It was Brenden Hill. Oh, I knew that, I fibbed.
Well, Hill has owned me ever since.
I've been in this business for three decades, folks, and few athletes have mesmerized me like this young man. Clean cut. Well-mannered. Loquacious. Good-natured. Genuine. Witty. This dude brings the entire package.
And, oh, by the way, he's a pretty good football player, too. Ask his position coach. Grizzled veteran Jim Cavanaugh doesn't easily give up the love. He did this week, though, saying Hill "played as fine a game as a whip [linebacker] has played here in a very long time" after grading the video of Tech's 17-10 win at Miami last Saturday.
On that cue, let's hand the microphone to Mr. Hill. It's his stage now.
"Coach Cav didn't tell me that, but I've heard those rumblings, too," Hill said. "That's just a great compliment. Coach Cav, he just wants us to be the best that we can be. Certain people were blessed with certain abilities, and I haven't been blessed with the most ability. But he just wants to get the best out of me.
"For a while there, I was kinda taking that for granted with him and I was really hurting him physically, I felt almost, because we all know how Coach Cav is ... he's kind of old! I feel like we've been killing Coach Cav's health like for a while now.
"Trust me, just as quickly as he gives [the love], he forgets it. That's just a tribute to him. He just wants us to stay humble, stay hungry, and never be satisfied because sometimes you can read all the hype and be in these rooms with the media and you start to tank it a little and go with the flow. He just wants us to practice like a champion every day. If I practice like I did last week and I saw how well I played ... that's direct motivation for me to go out every week and every day now to just practice that way."
- On being an lineup mainstay now after four years of playing a bit role at Tech: "There's not a day that goes by that I don't realize how I've matured and how thankful I am that I'm still here. People say a lot of bad things about Coach Beamer and they can get on him all they want, but I can't say anything bad about Coach Beamer because he's given me this opportunity.
"Without a doubt, this one year has been worth it. I've made nine starts so far, and hopefully, God willing, I'll make a few more in my career and that's more than a lot of people. I just feel like some is better than none. I'm so happy and so grateful to be in this situation. I wouldn't trade it for anything."
- On trying to teach the team's youngsters to take advantage of the opportunity they've been given, something he now regrets he didn't do: "My locker is right beside a kid named Rashad Carmichael [defensive back] and he's a freshman who's redshirting. He kinda looks up to me a lot and he talks to me everyday ... he's always trying to tell me what I'm going to be doing in the future and I'm like, 'I need a shot first.'
"I try to tell him everyday to just keep getting better. I get on him in practice sometimes, just telling him to pay attention. I'm really on the young guys like
Andre Smith [tight end] ... this freshman class is a pretty talented class. I hate to be predicting a lot, but they're going to make some noise in the future. I just want to see all those guys succeed, and every chance I get to say something to them, I try to encourage them and try to make them better people and better players."
- On playing the whip spot beside much more heralded linebackers Vince Hall and Xavier Adibi: "Yeah, whip is kinda the left-out position because we don't really fit anywhere, if you think about it. I'm not as big as Vince and Xavier ... I'm not as fast as [Aaron] Rouse [strong safety] and [free safety] D.J. Parker and those guy so, you know, I just get in where I fit in. It's definitely a play-making position. It gives me a chance to be out in space and kinda free-lance and roam and just have fun. That's why I wouldn't want to be at any other position.
"Everybody says, 'you're playing as well as James Anderson [now with the NFL's Carolina Panthers], or you're doing this and that in comparison with those guys. Well, I don't know where I really fit in. I'm almost in good contrast with the name of the position of whip because I don't have all those attributes you're supposed to have. I just go out there and make the most of my opportunities. So it kinda fits me."
- On a new form of celebration gig the defense auditioned for the first time at Miami: "You wouldn't know if I told you. And I don't want to ruffle any feathers with Coach Beamer and get him thinking of a celebration. It's just something we want to do for each other. We did it in the Miami game, but I don't think too many people paid attention to it. We made sure we didn't do it on the field. But when we came to the sideline we made a little hand motion and had our own little celebration. We're new-image Hokies and we're not trying to ruffle any feathers."
- After I mentioned I heard "Sweet Caroline" on the radio recently and how I would forever link him with the Neil Diamond hit that ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit ripped him for dancing to in the final minutes of Tech's loss at Boston College: "Appreciate that! The funny thing about that it wasn't even the song I was dancing to. Everybody assumed it was, and they just ran with it so I never made a point to correct them. It was Chamillionaire's rap song called 'Ridin' Dirty.' I've never heard of 'Sweet Caroline' or sang that song, so I just let it float and really didn't try to correct it."
- On wishing he had another year of football at Tech: "I do. Besides the winter workouts and all that stuff ... you know, I'm a little over that ... but just another year to see how well I could actually continue to play, and to be around these guys who are going to be back next year ... Xavier, Vince and Brandon [Flowers], and all these guys. It's been a real pleasure to play with them and it's kinda sad. I have only three regular-season games left, two more in Lane Stadium.. It's all kinda he me a little bit and it's getting sad so ... "
- Can you confirm speculation that Xavier Adibi is quite the lady's man: "Nah, not at all! Nah, I wouldn't say he's a ladies' man."
- OK, so who owns that title on this team: "I say myself! I think I'm pretty suave with the ladies, especially with this increased playing time ... definitely."
Definitely, B. Hill. Some of you was much better than none.
