Blue White Illustrated

BLUE-WHITE GAME PREVIEW | PENN STATE VS. HOUSTON the Capital One Bowl, Hill was buying gifts for his sisters after a Christmas without many presents. So he works. He pushes himself at Penn State to be the best in the class- room and on the practice field, dream- ing of a future in the National Football League and the financial security it could bring his family. He worries about his dad, his lifelong motivator. He worries about his mom, his emotion- al rock and the family's stabilizing force. And he worries about his young sisters, whom he has always protected. "He already had that motivation, but I see it even 10 times more," said Cristen, a third-year nursing student at Penn State Hershey. "I think it def- initely went from him wanting to do all this to him having to do all this. It's like, to him, it's not an option anymore. "This is what he has to do. Not like, 'This would be great if I could do it.' It's, 'This is what I'm going to do.' " *** Hill is the next star on Penn State's defensive line. Like Jared Odrick and Devon Still be- fore him, he is a tenacious defensive tackle in Larry Johnson's assembly line of first-round draft picks. While Still earned consensus first-team All-Big Ten honors from both the conference coaches and media last season, Hill played second fiddle, racking up 57 tackles, eight tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks, while earning honorable men- tion All-Big Ten nods in the process. Still was the star, but he said some of the hype that came his way should have gone to Hill. "I know a lot of people say that his success this past year was based a lot on me. Although I would love to take the credit – because he had a fantas- tic season – that's not true," Still said. "I'm predicting a better season [for him] than I had. I give credit where credit is due, and I know the type of person that Jordan is and I know how hard he's working right now in the off-season." Hill is aware of what is happening. He's seen the success of Odrick and Still firsthand, and he's on the same path to the NFL. His interview for this story was at least his third or fourth since December, and he's going to have to do many more before next April's draft. It's just the beginning of the pay- off, the long prelude to the moment he's anticipating when Roger Goodell announces his name as one of the first 15 selections in the first round. In December, the NFL Draft Adviso- ry Board said he would be a third- or fourth-round pick if he left after his junior season. He was told he could possibly be selected in the second round, but there were no guarantees. "That's pretty good for a junior," Hill said. "I wasn't disrespected, but I knew I was better than third round. I just wanted to come back and try to prove to anybody that doubted me that I'm not that guy." JORDAN HILL BY THE NUMBERS YR 2009 2010 2011 TOTAL TK 12 36 59 107 SOLO 1 12 22 35 parents, those with one and those with none – as a social experiment aimed at shaping the curriculum for the rest of the semester. The students in the two-parent group were Cristen, Jordan, one of Jor- dan's cousins and a neighbor. That was it. The support structure, or lack there- of, manifests itself constantly. Even though the school won back-to-back PIAA Class A championships his jun- ior and senior seasons, some of its most athletically gifted athletes failed to leave. "I wasn't even the best athlete or player on my team," Hill said. "I could name two or three other guys who meet, but Larry wanted more than the streets for his son. As a sophomore, Hill's football sea- son ended on a Friday with a loss in the state playoffs, while the basketball season commenced against rival Cen- tral Dauphin the next Monday. Trail- ing for most of the game, Hill remem- bered his team's epic comeback – in- cluding his 17-point fourth quarter – and more important, a victory. "I was like, 'Did you see that come- back, Dad?' He said, 'Yeah, but how about the first half when you had zero points? You stunk! You were bad! You've gotta play consistently! You've gotta do it through the whole game.' "He would point out the negatives AS FR FC I 11 00 0 24 00 0 37 31 0 72 31 0 He gets that attitude, in part, from his hometown. Harrisburg just doesn't produce a lot of quality football players. Steelton, a small, urban community just south of the city along the Susquehanna Riv- er, produces even fewer. The last NFL player to suit up for the Rollers? Troy Drayton, a Penn State All-American whose final season with the Nittany Lions was 1992, a year af- ter Hill was born. According to census data, the per capita income in the Steelton-Highspire school district is less than $18,000 per year. Hill's graduating class consisted of only 86 kids, and the school was 493rd out of 497 Pennsylvania districts in the Pittsburgh Business Times' rankings, which were based on stan- dardized test scores. As seniors in high school, Jordan and Cristen participated in an honors civics class with 20 other kids. Early in the year, the teacher separated the students into groups – those with two W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M SACK 1-1 0.5-2 3.5-33 5-36 could have gone somewhere, but they didn't and they're still at home. That's a type of motivation for me, too. "We had so many talents… but no- body goes anywhere. I'm trying to not be one of those guys who is just back at home." Larry and Sue made sure a better fu- ture would be in store for their son. The relationships are complicated, but Sue was the nurturer, Larry the disciplinarian. Cristen calls Jordan a momma's boy. Sue confirms. Both pushed him to be better through dif- ferent styles, on the playing surfaces, in the classroom and at home. "Larry was very tough on Jordan growing up, but I think it was just the father-son thing," Sue said. Battles would ensue between the two hard-headed sides, usually for silly rea- sons, and sometimes they would lead to long silences. The two laugh about it now, but they got into heated, pro- longed arguments at times. The standard was impossible to TFL 1-1 2-5 8-45 11-51 John Beale with every positive. He gave me my credit, no doubt, but he was always my biggest critic, and I'm happy that he was." Hill's relationship with his father has shaped much of what he has accom- plished so far. It has evolved since the stroke and inspires him as he moves forward. And yet, few teammates or coaches are even aware of Larry's medical hardships, save for Johnson, who has achieved a mentor status in Hill's life, along with a few of his roommates. "I'm not going to ask people to feel sorry for me," he said. "It's not need- ed." Hill calls home every day, usually in the afternoon just to check in on his father, who spends most of his time around the house. If Jordan doesn't call, they'll think something is wrong, and his parents will call him. As the men of the family, the two don't talk about it directly. They're too strong for that, and the girls rely on them. A P R I L 3 0 , 2 0 1 2 23

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