Ryan Hill snubbed of NFL Combine invite

CORAL GABLES – It was somewhat surprising that Hurricanes CB Ryan Hill didn’t receive an invitation to the Senior Bowl last month.

It’s completely baffling he wasn’t invited to the NFL Combine.

The names of more than 300 college players appeared on the official list received Monday, including nine Miami Hurricanes. 

Hill wasn’t among them.

Either there’s some bias against Hill for some strange reason, or the selection process is straight up stupid.

He wasn’t worthy enough of an invite? Really?

DeMarcus Van Dyke, who Hill supplanted as starter opposite Brandon Harris last season, received a late invite to the Senior Bowl and will also be at the Combine Feb. 23 in Indianapolis.

Van Dyke had 20 tackles, five pass-breakups and two INT last season. Hill, who started 11 of 13 games, had 51 tackles, eight pass-breakups and a team-high tying three INT.

I’m not trying to hate on Van Dyke, who deserves to be there. I’m just trying to understand why Hill was left off the list. [Note: I've gotten some emails/comments about this, so I wanted to clarify: I by no means gave this example to try to disparage DVD for the sake of building a case for Hill. As I wrote, DVD, who I personally like a lot, deserved the invite. And Hill's comments weren't related to DVD. I simply asked him about not being invited. We didn't discuss the invitation of DVD or any other player]

When I called him up, he was less upset about it than you might expect him to be.

“Initially, I was kind of shocked,” Hill said of not receiving an invite from the NFL. “There’s a lot that goes into making the list, I guess. I don’t know if it was predetermined as far as preseason hype or whatever, but you know…there are going to be guys that go to the Combine and don’t get drafted and some guys that don’t go to the Combine and get drafted.”

Hill did play in the Eastham Energy All-Star Game in Tempe, Ariz., last month and had an interception and three tackles. He said he spoke to every team, and was encouraged by several of them expressing interest. 

Hill, who is training in Boca Raton, said he’s focused on “trying to surprise a lot of people” during UM’s Pro Day March 10. He said three NFL scouts told him if he can run the 40 in 4.4 seconds at his weight, he can be a second or third-rounder. Hill is shooting for the second round.

“There are always guys who fly under the radar…a lot of people don’t know who I am, but hopefully if I run this 4.4 like I plan to do, or maybe even 4.3, the sky’s the limit,” Hill said.



(sun-sentinel.com)