Hill poised for something more

PULLMAN — Jason Hill jogs out of the huddle toward the right sideline, just 13 yards away from where he wants to be, and coils up awaiting the snap.

Seconds later, Hill is reaching out with his right hand for the ball in the back of the end zone, a cornerback draped over half of his body.

The referee already has the penalty flag for pass interference raised in his right hand. He never throws it. Instead, the other hand shoots up to signal a touchdown.

Hill stands with the ball resting peacefully in that right hand while the cornerback releases his left. It’s just a fall scrimmage and the stands are almost empty, but no one in Martin Stadium Friday afternoon left with any doubts.

Jason Hill is ready.

“I’m hungry now. I want the ball every time now,” he says.

The junior wide receiver at Washington State has never been short on confidence. After scribbling his own name into the school record books with a 1,007-yard (fifth-best in WSU history), 12-touchdown (best in WSU history) season, Hill now takes on the role of a marked man in the Cougar offense.

“He’s got the whole game now,” offensive coordinator Mike Levenseller says. “And now, he’s out here starting to have more fun because he’s starting to try things. Not just run a takeoff, not just run a hitch. Now he’s looking at the coverage and thinking, ‘OK, if I make this guy do this, then I can get open doing this.’ “

But an abundance of talent does not always translate into an avalanche of words. As a sophomore, he took a pass on talking to the media after a 206-yard game against Colorado, a three-touchdown game against Idaho and a record-breaking touchdown grab in the Apple Cup.

Speaking in his low, measured voice, Hill doesn’t get animated when he wants to make a point. Instead, he hangs on every word.

“I’ve always been good,” he says. “But people looked at me as not … good … enough. I didn’t have that extra, everyone thought. I eat that up, man. I like that.”

And like the tightened spring he resembles before a play begins, Hill provides the occasional hint that there’s a lot more to him than just the quiet man.

“I got huge expectations,” he says. “I’ll be satisfied with one more catch, one more yard, one more touchdown, but I want to explode. I want to really explode. I want to grab everyone to me from a media standpoint. Getting 1,000 yards, I didn’t get as much publicity as I thought I earned. Averaging 20-some yards a catch, I thought if I was an Ohio State guy or a USC guy, I’d get a lot more pub for that. I’ve got to do more, you know? I’ve got to do more. So that’s my goal.”

But Hill’s dream is and has been a bigger stage. The junior minces no words in saying that the NFL is where he wants to be, and tracks some of his favorite pro wideouts daily on the Internet to follow their every move.

The San Francisco native draws additional motivation from his family at home, especially after his father, Jerry, passed away during Hill’s freshman year at WSU after a near-decade of partial paralysis. Ever since, Hill has helped look after his mother, LaVerne Hawkins, and three younger siblings — twin sisters Mary and Helen, 16, and brother Paul (“Puma”), 12.

Hill missed a week of his freshman season in 2003 to help plan his father’s funeral, and teammates at WSU noticed quickly upon his return that the focused Hill they had known before was even more driven to make it as a football player.

“When he came back, it was of course a different Jason,” senior wide receiver Trandon Harvey recalls. “He knew what he had to do. He knew he had to step up and become a man, responsibilities came even greater. And he knew he wanted to take care of his family, and this is one method or way he really can take care of his family, by doing well in football.

“We know that he’s really got the biggest opportunity to get there. All he’s got to do is have another good year, another good one or two years and he’ll be there.”

In his freshman season, Hill was used almost solely on special teams and didn’t catch a single ball. So when Levenseller called his number on a fourth-quarter 4th-and-9 at New Mexico in last year’s season-opener, Hill knew he had arrived. That 25-yard gain helped produce a touchdown, a win and, for Hill, a dazzling year that few could have predicted.

In a span of five games last season, Hill reeled in 20 passes while taking nine of them to the end zone.

“He made that fourth-down catch against New Mexico and I could just see it, could feel it, what it meant,” Levenseller says. “All the sudden, he just felt like he could do this really good. He took off from there.”

Primarily a deep threat for much of 2004, Hill has spent his offseason figuring out short and intermediate pass patterns, which Levenseller believes will put him in position for more catches.

Regardless of where he stands on the field, regardless of who is under center, the Cougars know much of their 2005 offense will revolve around getting the ball to Jason Hill.

For a 20-year old who’s already used to shouldering responsibility for those closest to him, there might be nothing more comfortable.

“I’m doing it for them, me, for everyone. For the Cougs,” he says. “I’m trying to represent everybody. But I’m definitely going to do it.”