The 2009 NFL Draft is this weekend and cornerback B.J. Hill is hoping to be among a group of Ball State University players selected.
NFL teams are looking at Hill as a possible return specialist in addition to cornerback. But with less than a week before the draft Hill is playing the waiting game.
"It's basically a lottery depending on what teams like," Hill said. "Some teams may shy away from me and some teams may like me a lot. It's just what happens on draft day. All I can do is wait."
Playing in the NFL is a dream for Hill, he said, but achieving a dream can be hard.
Hill may never have had the chance to this stage in his life if it wasn't for Tony Carroll. Hill's biological father died from AIDS before Hill was 10 years old. Hill's mother struggled being a single mother in the Washington, D.C., area and Hill began spending a lot of time at Carroll's house.
Eventually Hill moved in to Carroll's house in Washington, D.C., full-time and was raised as one of his children.
"I just wanted to steer him away from things, and he really became like a son to me," Carroll said.
Carroll is a non-related uncle to Hill; Carroll's sister is married to one of Hill's uncles. Hill was raised among Carroll's two children and another cousin who Carroll had also taken in.
Carroll footed the bill and even paid for Hill to go to private school along with his cousins.
Before Carroll took him in, Hill spent time in a shelter. He could have used that, along with the death of his biological father, as an excuse to delve into the bad activities.
Instead, Hill went on to shine on the football field as a running back. Hill was leading the D.C. area in touchdowns his senior year of high school and had a chance to set the record when his next opportunity to quit came.
Close to the midpoint of the season Hill broke his ankle, and it wasn't a simple break easily fixed with surgery, he said.
"I shattered it, dislocated it and tore some ligaments in it so it was a pretty bad injury," Hill said.
If it wasn't for the non-orthopedic doctor at the hospital who saw Hill while he was waiting for surgery he may have never have made it out of the hospital - let alone back onto a football field.
"That injury was so bad that when the non-orthopedic doctor came in he said 'I'm not an orthopedic doctor but we need to set this right now,'" Carroll said. "The doctor said if they didn't set it right then he could die. That's how bad it was."
The schools that had been talking to Hill about coming to play for them in college then stopped recruiting.
Hill could have given up and found a job or enrolled like any regular student. Instead, Hill went to a military academy for a year in hopes that interest in him would be renewed after one season.
While playing for Fort Union Military Academy in Virginia Hill he was contacted by Ball State and eventually signed to play there.
For his first two seasons Hill played at the running back position, but going into his junior year former head coach Brady Hoke asked him to switch to cornerback. Hill said at first he had a hard time accepting the change.
"He called me right after the meeting and was very, very upset," Carroll said. "We talked through it and accepted it was better for the team ... he came to realize the team is bigger and he is going to do anything to help the team."
In his two years at the cornerback position, Hill has earned second team All-MAC as a junior and first team All-MAC as a senior. Still, Hill said he has room to improve.
"I've only been playing it for two years," Hill said. "I think there's a lot of growth to be made. If I can do that on a team, if someone will just give me a shot, that's all I can really ask for."
Now the coach at San Diego State University, Hoke said Hill can improve his technique.
"As a corner he probably needs a little more work fundamentally and with technique so he can be as successful as he wants," Hoke said.
Hoke said Hill is the type of athlete who will get noticed going into the draft.
"He's a guy that's going to test well when you look at his speed, his vertical, his athleticism and B.J. was a tough guy," Hoke said.
Hill's hometown Washington Redskins flew in for a workout with the cornerback. Hill said the Redskins aren't looking at him as just a return specialist.
"When I went to the Redskins they worked me out as a corner, and I'm pretty sure they know of my return skills," Hill said.
Hill said many other teams have called his agent Billy Crawford to get information about Hill, but the Redskins were the only team to work him out.
If Hill doesn't get an opportunity in the NFL this season, he said you won't be finding him behind a desk.
"My thing is I just want to keep playing football," Hill said. "I can't do a 9 to 5. I just don't have the patience."
Hill said he was contacted by a man involved with the Canadian Football League, and that a couple teams were interested in him because of his return skills.
Still, Hill said he dreams of playing in the NFL. The one team to work him out is the team he wants to be on most.
"If I had a choice I would probably just go with the Redskins because they have been my favorite team since I've been about 12 years old," he said. "If you go into my room you'll see a lot of Redskins stuff so that's my heart right there."
Hill will find out this weekend if he is drafted or if he will have to hope for a free agent contract. He'll be spending the draft with family members back in Washington, D.C., but don't call it a draft party.
"This is not about whether or not you get drafted on the first day or second day," Carroll said. "This is an accomplishment party for everything he has done."
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