Up until the LSU football team opened fall practice on Aug. 5, sophomore running back Jeremy Hill didn’t know if he would ever step foot on the Tiger Stadium field again.
Two months later, he is producing one of the best seasons by a running back in LSU history and has earned a spot on the watch list for the Maxwell Award, which is given annually to the top player in college football.
“Jeremy Hill is going to be Jeremy Hill, no matter what,” said LSU sophomore offensive guard Trai Turner. “That’s one of the best running backs I’ve ever seen.”
Hill burst onto the scene his freshman season, leading the Tigers with 755 yards and 12 touchdowns and climbing his way to the top of the depth chart late in the year.
But after pleading guilty to simple battery on July 12 for his involvement in a bar fight in April — a violation of his probation for a guilty plea to misdemeanor carnal knowledge of a juvenile in January 2012 — Hill’s fate was put in the hands of District Judge Bonnie Jackson and LSU coach Les Miles.
Jackson extended his probation and Miles ended his indefinite suspension after allowing Hill’s teammates to vote on whether or not to reinstate him.
Just like that, Hill was a Tiger again.
But his time away from the team cost him.
Miles called him “rusty as heck” after his first practice back, and saying he looked nothing like the freshman phenom who thrust himself into the Tigers’ starting role with his ability to create positive yards.
“He better get back to practice if he expects to play at all,” Miles said after the practice.
Hill apparently heeded Miles’ warning.
After sitting out of LSU’s season opener against TCU, Hill made his return during the second quarter of the Tigers’ home opener against UAB when he carried the ball into the end zone for a 3-yard touchdown.
He proceeded to finish the game with six carries for 50 yards, making it official — Hill was back.
“Jeremy’s been through a lot in his life, and he’s grown up a lot and matured a lot,” said LSU senior quarterback Zach Mettenberger. “The time he spent away, he still worked and continued to do the right thing. He did the things that we needed him to do to come back and be full go.”
Hill has run the ball for at least 100 yards in four of the Tigers’ last five games, leading the team in rushing while ranking second in the Southeastern Conference with 715 yards and nine touchdowns on 98 carries.
“That says a lot about him,” said LSU junior offensive tackle La’el Collins. “He’s a groundhog. He hit the ground running and he never looked back. He’s always looking to get better and look forward. He kept working out and kept working hard, and it definitely shows and it definitely panned out.”
Hill’s latest performance may have been his most impressive. He ran for 121 yards against an SEC-leading Florida defense that had not allowed a running back to reach 60 yards and held its opponents to 325 combined yards on the ground in the five games prior.
But he wasn’t impressed. If he had to give his performance a grade, Hill marked it a C+.
“There were some things I wish I could have done better,” Hill said. “I feel my effort could have been a lot better on some plays. In my eyes, I just need to play a little harder and play with a little more intensity.”
Hill conceded he made some mistakes between plays, as well.
“I kind of let those guys get in my head a little bit,” he said. “Instead of going on to the next play, I kind of said some things to them after plays that I shouldn’t have when I should have just moved on.”
If Hill has a vice, it’s his maturity. His first misdemeanor charges nearly ended his football career before it began, and his second has given him little room to make another error.
He said he was able to draw inspiration from the 2003 BCS national championship team honored during Saturday’s game.
“Those guys had so much pride and just seeing the smiles on their face when [LSU] got the win, it just meant so much to me,” Hill said. “It just showed me how much bigger this is than me.”
There is little doubt Hill contains the potential to be a superstar, but his problems off the field have held him back thus far.
Whether he spends his future Sundays suiting up or on the couch is entirely up to him.
“Jeremy’s been through a lot in his life, and he’s grown up a lot and matured a lot. The time he spent away he still worked and continued to do the right thing. He did the things that we needed him to do to come back and be full go.”