Steady Climb for This Hill

There is nothing tender about the Tenderloin, a scruffy, crime-ridden section of San Francisco that won’t be found on many tourist maps.

Jason Hill was born and raised close enough to the Tenderloin to witness all the despair and sadness, all the anger and frustration. At 19, he already has had to deal with many of those emotions himself.

Hill, Washington State’s big-play receiver, plays football with the raw energy and determination one might expect of a young man who has survived his background.

“A very mature young man,” Washington State Coach Bill Doba said. “He’s 19, going on 35.”

Hill grew up poor in a federal housing project, one of six children born to a couple who never married and split up when Hill was young. Not long after that, Hill’s father was left paralyzed from the waist down after being shot in an incident that Hill describes as a family dispute.

The rural peace of the Palouse helped lure Hill to Washington State last year, but tragedy soon called him back to San Francisco. His father had died suddenly, and Hill -- a key special-teams player as a freshman -- dropped football for a week to return home to arrange the funeral, calm his family and bury his father.

“I always had to be that way,” Hill said. “I always had to watch over my little brother and little sisters. Because my mom was working.

“Even playing sports, I had to miss some practices to go to my little brother’s school to talk with his teachers or to take my little sisters somewhere. I was always the one to watch over them.”

Hill quickly resumed his prominent role on special teams after returning to school last season, but he caught no passes in limited duty, playing behind a corps of talented, experienced receivers. A year later, Hill -- a quarterback until his senior year in high school -- is tied for second in the nation with six others with nine touchdown receptions and is averaging 27.7 yards a catch going into Saturday’s game with top-ranked USC.

“We needed a guy to step up and be a playmaker, and Jason has done that,” quarterback Alex Brink said.

“He’s fearless,” said Mike Levenseller, offensive coordinator and receivers coach. Brink hooked up with Hill on a 60-yard touchdown pass against Colorado on Sept. 11. Hill’s 206 yards receiving that day rank seventh in school history.

A week later, Hill tied a Cougar record with three touchdown catches against Idaho.

The week after that, Hill caught two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter at Arizona, including the game-winner in the last minute.

He’s only two shy of the school record of 11 touchdown catches in one season; he’s tied for 17th in the nation with 91 yards receiving a game, and he leads the 3-4 Cougars with 23 catches and 637 yards receiving.

“What’s great about him is, he corrects himself quickly,” Levenseller said. “He’s as smart as any young player that I’ve coached.”

Brink said: “He’s a big, physical guy. He played basketball in high school, so he has no problem going up on guys to get the ball. He’s got good hands. He’s the whole package, really.”

Hill, at 6 feet, 198 pounds, said he turned down a basketball scholarship to Long Beach State after averaging about 19 points as a senior guard at Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep.

“I could shoot it!” he said, beaming.

Hill has long dreamed of an NFL career, one reason he had no problem shifting from quarterback to receiver his senior year at Sacred Heart.

“I was hoping to do it,” he said. “I’ve always seen myself, even when I was a quarterback, as a receiver in college or a defensive back.

“It worked out. I did well at it. It came kind of natural.”

The Fightin’ Saints, traditionally weak in football, finished 9-1 in Hill’s senior year. Hill has long since grown accustomed to dealing with challenges. He said his only goal at the start of this season was to become a starter -- “Anything past that was a bonus” -- but now that he has become the Cougars’ go-to receiver, he says it’s flattering to be the primary target of defenders.

“It’s fun to me, because in high school, that’s kind of what the deal was,” Hill said. “I’m used to it. I like that. It’s fun. It means I’m doing well.”

Count Doba among the admirers who say Hill was overdue for some good fortune.

“Jason’s just starting to come into his own,” Doba said. “Jason is a very, very mature kid. I really have a lot of respect for him.”

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Catching On

Washington State receiver Jason Hill’s game-by-game statistics:

*--* Opp. Result Rec. Yds. Avg. TD at New Mexico Win, 21-17 2 34 17.0 0 Colorado Loss, 20-12 6 206 34.3 1 at Idaho Win, 49-8 3 105 35.0 3 at Arizona Win, 20-19 4 74 18.5 2 Oregon Loss, 41-38 2 64 32.0 2 Stanford Loss, 23-17 5 115 23.0 1 at Oregon State Loss, 38-19 1 39 39.0 0

*--*