Versatile Orlando athlete Tommi Hill pledges to the Sun Devils
A worn-out football adage that pays the highest compliment to a player states: ‘you can’t keep him off the field.’ It’s also a remarkably accurate description of Arizona State’s newest addition in the 2021 class, Tommi Hill, who is also the first defensive back in the class to commit to ASU.
Granted, no one is expecting at any point of his ASU career to see the Orlando Edgewater standout to play nearly as many snaps on any given Saturday as he did for the Eagles. Nonetheless, being a productive contributor on both sides of the ball has served Hill well for both his team and boasting his stock as a recruit.
“What makes Tommi special is that he’s one of the most competitive kids I ever coached,” Edgewater’s head coach Cameron Duke said. “He’s one of the few players I had last year that played both ways, so he averaged around 140 plays every game, playing wide receiver and defensive back. The college that will get him will get an outstanding wide receiver and an outstanding defensive back.
“He’s on my unity council, he’s fully qualified academically. He’s a great football player and even a better young man. His coaches love him, his teammates love him, and he’s loved by everyone at our school. Over the last few years, it’s been fun to watch him develop not only as a better player but a better student and a better person. That’s the testament to his family and the people in his life as well. He’s just improved drastically on and off the field.”
As a junior, 6-foot-1, 185-pound Hill caught 45 passes for more than 850 yards and nine touchdowns. Never the one to want to step off the field, Hill lined up his lengthy frame on defense, using his speed to record a quartet of interceptions, a half dozen deflections and 15 tackles as a cornerback. And it is the latter role that he’s being recruited in Tempe, but his exploits on offense are indeed serving a mention as they have been vital to his development executing defensive backfield assignments.
“At wide receiver, he has great ball skills and attacks the ball really well because he knows how to high point it,” Duke described. “He’s physical at 6-1 and almost 200 lbs. but can also run really well. He’s really good in and out of breaks. He can take the top off the defense with his speed, but also catch the ball well in traffic because of his size.
“Being such a good wide receiver definitely helped him be a good defensive back, especially with his ball skills. Having the length and the size he has is so valuable at that position. We didn’t start playing him on defense until the playoffs of his sophomore year in 2018. We were facing a team with taller wide receivers, and he had three picks in four games, and we made it all the way to the semifinals. He was all over the field. So, when he started his junior year, we decided that he will play both sides of the ball, and when he got breaks during a game, it was much more on offense because he was so valuable for us in the secondary. He’s a great tackler, very physical at the line of scrimmage. All the skills that make him a good wide receiver make him an elite defensive back as well, especially understanding routes so well.”
Recruiting analyst Cody Cameron stated that Hill explosiveness stands out immediately when viewing his film and is a key trait in the defensive back’s toolbox.
“Hill gets into his second gear quickly, and on offense, he consistently blows past defensive backs on his deep routes. He gets vertical and then explodes inside, showing off his quick agility as he torches cornerbacks. Hill wasn’t doing this against weak opponents either; some of Hill’s best film and stats came against some of the top teams in the country. In the Florida 7A State Championship game, Hill hauled in 8 receptions for 102 yards and a touchdown against St. Thomas Aquinas (#1 Ranked team in Florida, #3 in Nation per MaxPreps).
“Defensively, Hill is a ballhawk and does a great job of playing through the receiver’s hands. Turning on his defensive tape, the play Hill makes at the:30 second mark is phenomenal. Hill aggressively plays through the receiver’s hands and snags the contested pass for an interception in the red zone. The play at the:58 second mark of his defensive tape shows off Hill’s awareness and play recognition. Hill reads the quarterback’s eyes, comes off his flat coverage, and picks off the pass intended for the deep corner route. Hill is an all-around playmaker on the football field.”
Pressed on the subject in a previous Devils Digest interview with Jordan Kaye, Hill truthfully admitted he didn’t have a preference. Offense or defense, it doesn’t matter -- he enjoys and thrives in both. In that respect, Hill is unique.
“As a receiver, I just try to make the best of what I can. If there’s a 50-50 ball, you best believe I’m coming down with it,” Hill said. “As a corner, everything just feels easy. I learned how wide receivers move (from playing the position), so if they move, I can just react off their position.”
What has been clearer though, but the substantial bond Hill formed with his future college coach, ASU’s defensive back coach Chris Hawkins. With 23 offers extended to the Orlando athlete, the Sun Devils had to work diligently to initially be included in a top-five that included Oklahoma, Penn State, Nebraska, and Arkansas and eventually become his college landing spot. As with every recruiting process, relationship level reign supreme, and ASU’s general coaching makeup which has and continues to appeal to prospects, undoubtedly was a significant factor for Hill.
“He was just talking about how he liked my abilities,” Hill recalled his first-ever phone conversation with Hawkins, “He can see my potential. He can change how I play, my leadership, just everything. He can make me better. I do want to go to a school that has contacts in the NFL. That’s a big deal. They (ASU) just talk to me straight-up. They don’t keep anything out.
“(Head coach Herm Edwards) just tells me everything I need to hear. How will college be? What NFL coaches would see in me? He said I have the talent, but he can make me better because he’s seen it all.”
Hill’s high school head has been equally impressed, and during an extremely challenging recruiting process, cited the connection Hill established with Hawkins and the rest of the Sun Devil staff effectively bridging the geographic remoteness, as Hill follows the now popular trend of his fellow 2021 prospect and committing to a school sight unseen. Truth be told though, that Hill was fully planning to make the trek to Tempe in the spring to learn more about the program up close and personal.
“Arizona State has been on him hard for a long time and has done a really good job,” Duke noted. “You can tell this is a program that is going in the right direction. It’s a really good fit and a Florida kid to Arizona won’t mind the heat and may prefer that type of heat. From an outsider perspective, coach Herm and his staff are doing very well there. I know Tommi loves the staff there and knows that going to Arizona State, he will play in a great conference. He’s a very relational kid, and he wants that in college just like he has it at high school.
“So, he was able to build that authentic relationship with Chris Hawkins. Coach Hawkins is a very personable guy that does a great job keeping in touch with the players he recruits and their coaches, as well as the players’ families. When you have the distance that separates Arizona and Florida and recruiting with a quarantine going on, you have to have outstanding communication between a coach and a player and their family. That outstanding communication both of them have went a long way.
“Everybody is feeling up in the air about what will happen in the fall, and if you have a committable offer from a college you feel is a good fit, it’s a good time to commit. We have one player who already committed to Miami and another one who committed to Alabama, and Tommi will be the third player to commit. I tell my players that if there is a college you feel good about, you prayed about your decision and talked it over with your family, go ahead and make that decision.”
Which is precisely what Tommi Hill did publicly on Wednesday.
The Orlando athlete, who is scheduled to graduate in December 2020, is the ninth known commit in ASU’s 2021 class, the second pledge from the state of Florida, and the sixth player from the Central or Eastern time zone to join the ranks in Tempe.
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