Tony Hills- A Steeler

[5RINGS]

Strengths:
Excellent size and a big frame with long arms..Terrific athleticism...Has very nimble feet...Good balance and agility...An outstanding pass blocker...Is mobile with good range...Does a nice job in space and can get to the second level...Quick...Uses his hands well...Smart and a hard worker with top-notch intangibles...Still has upside.

Weaknesses:
Not real strong or powerful...Doesn't play with a nasty demeanor and lacks a killer instinct...He isn't stout at the point of attack...Doesn't get a great push in the run game...Has trouble sustaining his blocks....Plays too tall at times and technique is shaky...Inconsistent...A bit of an underachiever..Health and durability is a concern.

Notes:
Was a tight end in high school..Suffered a career-threatening knee injury in a high school All-Star game that required multiple surgeries and led to him redshirting as a freshman..Backed up Jonathan Scott at left tackle in '04 and '05 before replacing him as a junior...Missed time in '05 with an elbow injury...Broke his left leg late in the 2007 season...Could also move inside to guard at the next level...Is not quite as good of a prospect as Jonathan Scott coming out but is a similar type of player.

[SteelerFan448]

This guy has no pressure to play this year. Smith, Essex, and Starks contracts all end after this season. Hills can play LT or RT. Good pick and a need pick.

[Punxsutawney]

I am thrilled with this pick.

If the Steelers were to wait to the middle rounds to select an OT, Hills is the player I wanted them to select. He is a very solid LT prospect.

[Spike]

<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD class=storytitle colSpan=3>Tony Hills Named First Team All-American

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Tony Hills (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)
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Texas senior OT Tony Hills has been selected first-team All-America by the Walter Camp Football Foundation.
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Texas (http://texas.scout.com/) senior OT Tony Hills (http://texas.scout.com/a.z?s=110&p=8&c=1&nid=3019042) has been selected first-team All-America by the Walter Camp Football Foundation, it was announced at the Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. on Thursday night.


In a release from Texas, Hills said:

"I'm really excited to be a member of the Walter Camp All-American team. I had a great time meeting all of the Walter Camp folks and hearing about the great tradition they have with Longhorn linemen. It's a great honor to be joining the long list of UT All-Americans and something I'll be proud of for the rest of my life. After going down with an injury late in the season, it's even more special to still be honored as an All-American. It kind of puts the icing on the cake of my college career. Now I'm going to keep coaching up the young guys, go to San Diego and try to win our fourth straight bowl game." A first-team All-Big 12 selection, Hills had started 24 straight games and played in 42
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[Chicoman]

I don't know about no pressure to play considering how pathetic our O-line was last season this kid could see action this year.

I'm a little concerned about his injury history however I think this is a good pick.

[SteelerFan448]

Well he could see time, but he is not expected to come in and start right away.

[Sluzilla]

where they rank at other sites...

thehuddlereport.com - 160 OT Tony Hills 6-5 309 Texas
greatbluenorth.com - 136. Tony Hills OT 6-5, 310 Texas (X)
nfldraftcountdown.com - 166. Tony Hills OT Texas

[Chicoman]

Well he could see time, but he is not expected to come in and start right away.

We have Jason Capizzi to start so we are OK!:D

[JEFFRO]

They addressed the o-line with this pick.
However, I am not thrilled.
Rivals had very little footage on him.
From what I did see he will definitely be a work in progress.
But mostly I am concerned about his ability to stay healthy.
Major injuries in high school and college does not bode well.
Some people are injury prone.

My projection: IF he makes the final cut this summer I would bet he will spend time in the hot tub.

I do not like Tony Hills.
Tony Hills takes falls and spills.
Tony Hills has many ills.
Make the team and an impact ever
I think Hills may never!

[GIJohnny]

Rivals.com - <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=638 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=options3 style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 10px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px; PADDING-TOP: 5px" align=left>96</TD><TD class=options3 style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 10px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px; PADDING-TOP: 5px" align=left>Tony Hills (http://nfldraft.rivals.com/cviewplayer.asp?sport=1&player=2768&type=scoutingreport#scouting)</TD><TD class=options3 style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 10px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px; PADDING-TOP: 5px" align=left>Texas (http://texas.rivals.com/)</TD><TD class=options3 style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 10px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px; PADDING-TOP: 5px" align=left>6-6/295 </TD><TD class=options3 style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 10px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px; PADDING-TOP: 5px" align=left>Houston, TX</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

The Good: As a run blocker, he does a good job of locking on, walling off and sustaining his blocks the full play. As a pass blocker, he gets into position quickly and is able to hold the edge against quick outside rushers. Shows nice balance and arm extension to get his hands on an opponent early on the down.

The Bad: Hills can struggle when asked to adjust and move quickly, and he struggles to fire out and block a linebacker on the second level. Also needs to develop a better hand punch and overall strength to handle the weak-side speed rushers. He is a marginal left tackle prospect for the pros due to only slightly above average footwork and limited playing experience.

Outlook: Hills has the package to start early at right tackle if he improves his strength and eventually left tackle if he improves his technique. A Top 100 prospect who probably goes in the late third/early fourth round area with the Bears, Lions and Texans interested

[Super Dave]

Tony Hills: Preparing for the NFL Draft

Part of becoming an elite athlete is facing and overcoming challenges. To defeat those challenges, an athlete must use determination, perseverance and hard work. In the case of Tony Hills, NFL teams will have no doubts that he possesses those attributes.

Recruited out of Elsik High School in Alief, Texas, Hills was planning to be a part of the Longhorns’ 2003 recruiting class. After catching a pass in the class 5A state semifinals, Hills was tackled awkwardly and severely injured his left knee. In the blink of an eye, Hills went from being the number one ranked tight end prospect in the nation, to facing the possibility of never playing football again.

After a visit to the Texas campus in December 2002, Coach Brown promised to honor Hills’ scholarship, and Hills endured multiple surgeries and worked to repair his knee. One year later, Hills walked onto the UT campus as a member of the 2004 recruiting class.

“He kept working through that adversity (of the knee injury), got where he could, didn’t move quite as well as he needed to to play tight end, so we asked him to try tackle and he moved in there without any reservation whatsoever,” said Texas OL coach Mac McWhorter. “He really embraced himself to the position and got better and better. He played two years as the top back up and then started for two years and had a very good career with us.”

Hills adjusted so well and so quickly to the new position that he played in 45 games, earning an honorable mention All-Big 12 selection and a spot on ESPN’s All-Mayday Team, a team assembled as the “Toughest of the Tough,” as a junior. On his way to a first team All-Big 12 selection as a senior, Hills’ senior campaign was going exactly like his first three seasons, injury-free, until he suffered a broken fibula in his left leg against Texas Tech, ending his Longhorn career two games early.

To recover again from an injury to his left leg, Hills drew from the experience and mental toughness he gained from recovering from his first injury.

“Once you know how to come back from an injury, you know how much you can push it or when to step back, when to rest,” said Hills. “That’s been the biggest advantage I’ve had. I’ve been through an injury worse than this one. This has been a fight up hill, but it’s been well worth it to be one step closer to my dream, to go play in the NFL.”

Nearly four months to the day after breaking his leg, Hills was running, jumping and cutting for NFL scouts Wednesday at Moncrief-Neuhaus Athletic Complex.

“It’s been a long, tough road,” Hills said. “Draft day will be a time for me to sit back and see what I’ve accomplished so far. I’m definitely not finished, I still have a lot of dreams and goals that I want to accomplish in the NFL. It’ll definitely be something for me to sit back with my family and just thank God about.”

When asked about how he was able to rehab a second injury to the same leg in time to prepare for the NFL Draft, Hills chose to deflect the credit to many different people.

“It’s a credit to the coaching staff here, Coach Brown, Coach Madden, Cleve (Bryant), all those guys allow me to perform here,” replied Hills. “The fans of Texas have been great. I’ve had a great support cast here with the fans, from sending letters to the house, to e-mails, people on the streets saying they’re rooting for me. It’s like they say, once you become a Longhorn, you’re a Longhorn for life.”

Although Hills’ career as a Texas Longhorn is over, his legacy of dedication to the team and himself, perseverance and hard work will not soon be forgotten.

“He’ll certainly be a good example for years to come,” said McWhorter. “His perseverance has been unbelievable. He has always had great drive and ambition; he set his goals and really worked to reach them.”

Now, he only has to wait a few more weeks to fulfill another goal, playing in the NFL.

[SteelerFan448]

http://news.steelers.com/article/88790/


Larry Zierlein

RE: TONY HILLS

Offensive Lineman - University of Texas-Austin

4th Round – 130th Overall



Did you expect to see us earlier in the process?

Not really. I think there were some of those guys (offensive linemen) that went really fast. From that point on it became a situation where the guys on the board were pretty good players that we had a chance to get at their positions. I’ve never seen eight tackles taken in the first round – that’s amazing.


Talk about Tony Hill’s medical status.

The injury that he had out of high school was fine. That didn’t bother him in his career at Texas. He got the knee injury towards the end of his senior year. He’s been cleared. I worked him out about three or four weeks ago. Everything with him is fine. The high school injury was one that took care of itself, or the doctors took care of it, so that’s not a problem.


Was the high school condition known as dropfoot? Could you explain that? It’s supposed to be a rare injury to come back from.

No I sure can’t. He came back from it and played. It may be rare, but he did it. That’s not a concern.


Do you see him as a project, or can he come in and contribute right away?

I think that he’s a guy that can probably – it just depends on how quick he learns the system, how quick he learns techniques. I expect him to come in and compete for a spot. Not necessarily a starting spot at this point, but to be a contributor in some way.


Is he more of a left tackle?

Well that’s what he’s played, but I think he can go both ways. I think he can probably play the right, but he’s been a left tackle. He played behind Jonathan Scott (Detroit Lions), and the guys down at Texas compare him – I have friends on that staff – and they feel that he’s a better prospect than Scott was. Scott is starting for Detroit, and they think that this kid has more upside than Jonathan did.

Does this mean that Willie Colon is a guard?

No. It means Tony Hill is a tackle.


That gives you five with Willie Colon. Looks like you still need to draft another guard.

Well maybe if there’s one there that we like, we will.


He was a tight end in high school.

Yes, he was. He was a tight end that they converted – I’m not sure when. I think it was his freshman year that they converted him.


Did he start for 2 years at Texas?

Yes.


What are his assets as a player?

I’ll tell you one thing – he’s really big. When I went down to work him out, and I’ve seen him, and watched him on tape, I really was surprised at how big he was. He has long arms. As a former tight end, he’s a pretty good athlete. His strength probably needs to develop a little bit, but he is athletic, he’s big, and if you have those two things that’s a good start.


How do you see the line shuffling out? Coach Tomlin recently wouldn’t address where he sees Willie Colon. Why the secrecy?

I didn’t know there was a secret.


How do you see things working out with Max (Starks)?

Just exactly like it ended up last year. He’ll get a chance to compete again. There is no secrecy here. I read on a blog or something that Willie was going to guard. That’s the first I’ve heard about it.


Your son is the one who wrote about it.

I know that. That’s the blog! I said where did you get that? And he said, “Well, I always just envisioned him as a guard.” I told him, “Well, you know where it looks like it came from, don’t you?”


Coach Tomlin did say the other day that you were going to practice him (Colon) some there. He may have lit the fire.

I don’t know. Right now, Willie is the right tackle. Max will get an opportunity to compete.


Coach, we haven’t talked to you since Alan Faneca left. What are your thoughts on him moving on, and potential guys to replace him at that left guard spot?


Chris is going to get the shot. I’ll tell you what, I have a lot of confidence in that guy. Aside from the physical thing, he’s a big kid. He was ready to play last year. He was ready, and Kendall kind of won the thing, but it was close. When we came out of training camp, preseason games, the grades were close. But this kid is ready to play. The thing that I told him the other day, “It’s obvious to me, when you see blitzes, you understand it all. Just become a little more verbal.” He understands things. I like him, I really do like him. I think he’s going to be a good player.

Will the line be better due to having spent a year under your coaching?

Yeah, probably so.


After watching Max last year it’s usually rare that a guy’s better at left tackle then right. Do you think he’s possibly better as a left tackle?

Well here’s what you have to understand about Max you know the one thing that happened with him is that we had to take care of Marvel (Smith) in pre-season. Max had worked strictly at right tackle hardly any left and Marvel would play a few snaps and then we would put Max over there and Max didn’t look very good and it’s because he hadn’t been there. But to his credit throughout the season as he was not even playing he was working and he was working his techniques. If you can remember what he looked like in pre-season compared to what he looked like at the end of the season when he was called on or what he looked like in these two OTAs we have had, which I know you all haven’t seen he has improved substantially his techniques and I think he is better on the right and left side now. We have tried to change some things and he’s gone along with it and it’s helped him. He played left side in college and he can play the left side, but for me to say he’s more of a left side guy then a right side guy I don’t know for sure but I do have confidence in him on both sides.



It’s probably a reach to say Marvel is a little injury prone, but in three of the last five years he’s missed four games here and four games there. How’s his health and are you worried about how he is going to hold up next year and beyond?



Well he had surgery to correct a problem he’s had and that probably contributed to it. And I don’t know Marvel’s whole medical history but I would imagine that the problem he had last year carried over from before because he had the back problem before. Hopefully this surgery would have cleaned some stuff up and taken pressure of that nerve. Just as I don’t understand drop feet I don’t understand spinal injuries either. I can’t predict how Marvels going to hold up but I know one thing he said that he immediately felt a lot different after that surgery. We tried to take it a little bit easier on him on these OTAs these past two days and he said it felt great. That guys a worry, Marvel is. Last year in that Jacksonville game the one it really showed up in I wasn’t even aware of the problems he was having in that game. His left leg was numb and he couldn’t even feel it. He’ll go to the wall. I think he’s surgery gives him a chance to hold up I'm not concerned about that. It’s always a concern with any player in this league to go 16 weeks. Hopefully the problem has been fixed.

[SteelerFan448]

http://news.steelers.com/article/88789/

TONY HILLS

Offensive Lineman - University of Texas-Austin

4th Round – 130th Overall



Tony Hills:



Has your injury history held you back, including in this draft?



Well I know that there are a lot of things that the GMs and the coaches looked at and might have put a red flag up. If they followed my career and my history they would see that I have always been able to battle back from tough situations. Obviously Pittsburgh looked at it and paid attention to it and I am happy to be a Pittsburgh Steeler.



Can you explain what happened with the drop foot to us?



Sure. I got hurt in high school. I got hit in the leg and my perennial nerve was stretched causing a lack of mobility and then a loss of function in my foot. After my scar tissue removal surgery and after my MCL tear I regained full functions and I guess the rest is history.



Are you healthy and back to normal then?



I am definitely healthy. I am still working on getting all of my lower body strength back. That is something that I am going to go in there and work on as well as just doing what I can to help the team.



What do you see yourself as, a left or a right tackle?



I definitely prefer the left side that is what I have been playing. I am willing to do whatever it takes in order to pay my dues and help the team in any form or fashion. I definitely feel that I am athletic enough to play left tackle in this league.



They say it is difficult to come back from that kind of injury. How difficult was it for you to come back from the drop foot injury?



That is what I was told but I definitely didn’t have any difficulty coming back. Once I got full functions back into the leg, from there we went on to building me up and getting me stronger; a lot of lower body lifting and total body lifting in general.



Are you going to come up with Limas?



I definitely am, I was on the verge of calling him. I thought I should wait a minute and keep this line open, I know you guys wanted to call me.



What’s he (Limas) like?



He’s a heck of a player on the field, he is a hard worker, he has a lot of heart. He likes to be called on in pressure situations. We are very similar in the way we play the game, we play the game with passion. I’m just fortunate and blessed to be able to go to the same organization with somebody that I came up through college with.



What do you think that he would say you’re like?



Pretty much the same things, just a hard-nosed football player. I love the physicality of the position that I play. I just want to help the team get better and I love to win.



I guess the Cowboys are America’s Team in your mind?



That’s what they say. Right know I’m just enjoying being part of the Pittsburgh organization.

I feel like they have a great team and I just want to be part of it.



The Steelers are pretty much reviled down in your neck of the woods.



Actually we got a couple of Steelers fans in the house, my uncle is a huge Steelers fan. I watched them since Coach Tomlin has been there, they are going in the right direction in for what they stand for in there lunch pail type of attitude. That is the same type of attitude that I have. It’s been a pleasure watching those guys go out and work. I am just glad I can be part of the organization.

[BermudaSteel]

I like this guy and this pick...mainly because he's a NATURAL LT!

[Vis Major]

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[Thorndike]

AND he's from Texas...just like Limus Sweed, Mean Joe, and GEORGE W. BUSH!

[Achie D]

We have Jason Capizzi to start so we are OK!:D

I ain't worried 'bout nuthin. Capizzi's going to be a stud.

http://media.scout.com/Media/Image/43/431012.jpg

[kev4heels]

Guys, this will be our future LT. Albeit, 2-3 years from now, but a LT nonetheless.

[Irv24]

I ain't worried 'bout nuthin. Capizzi's going to be a stud.

http://media.scout.com/Media/Image/43/431012.jpg

looks like you misspelled dud.

[Steel Dino]

This guy is key to our 2nd day draft......If there is one player that we drafted, that absolutely needs to stay with the team and become a solid contributor in the future....it is Tony Hills.

Don't get me wrong....we certainly need the others to become valuable additions....But because of his position (OL) and being the ONLY player we selected on either lines....He becomes a rookie under the microscope...

[Max Power]

Tony Hills is going to be a monster tackle. Watch it happen. No pressure to start, no need to rush into it. He is new (sort of) to the OL as a converted TE, and will still be learning his technique. He will be leanring tons.

[markymarc]

Tony Hills is going to be a monster tackle. Watch it happen. No pressure to start, no need to rush into it. He is new (sort of) to the OL as a converted TE, and will still be learning his technique. He will be leanring tons.

I think that is the biggest key for Tony Hills. He will have plenty of time to learn and that can only help him in the long run.