Add Juggling to List of Tribe Lineman’s Skill Set

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

That’s when the William and Mary senior left tackle remembered he could juggle. He needed a quirky story about himself to tell his class and he finally had one.

“I thought it was really, really cool,” Hill said on Monday. “I didn’t know that many people who could do it.”

When he was 12 years old, Hill fell in love with skill after a trip to the circus with his family. Ever since that family trip, the 6-foot-4 protector of Mike Callahan’s blind side has juggled everything he could try.

Balls of athletic tape. Tennis balls. Apples.

“I just had the determination to figure it out,” said Hill, a two-year starter for the Tribe. “The stubborn person that I am, it took me two or three months to get in down pat where I could juggle for 20 minutes if I wanted to, then I slowly started teaching myself tricks and stuff like that.”

He’s even grown a little bit daring with his stunts. During a mission trip to West Virginia last summer a fellow volunteer asked him to juggle three hammers that were laying on a table. He figured it out in about five minutes.

“There’s no worries coming with anything dangerous,” Hill said. “I haven’t picked up any hammers (recently) or flaming torches. I think I’ll just stick with apples and tennis balls for now. They aren’t too dangerous.”

That should be a relief to the Tribe coaching staff. After starting all 14 games at right tackle last season, Hill will make the move to left tackle for Saturday’s opener at Massachusetts.