BYU QB Taysom Hill fractures leg, likely done for season

Published Oct. 4, 2014 12:32 a.m. ET

share

facebookxredditlink

foxsports

Taysom Hill's Heisman hopes are over, and BYU's chances of making college football's playoff likely are too, after the Cougars quarterback suffered his second season-ending injury against Utah State in Friday night's 35-20 loss.

Hill's left leg was fractured while he was being tackled late in the first half. He was in obvious pain as he was taken to the locker room for X-rays. It was a serious case of deja vu: Hill suffered a season-ending knee injury against the Aggies in 2012.

The 18th-ranked Cougars, who trailed 28-14 at halftime, managed just a pair of field goals in the second half as backup quarterback Christian Stewart threw three interceptions. The Cougars suffered their first loss after a 4-0 start while the Aggies won at BYU for the first time since 1978.

''It was really difficult to watch Taysom go down,'' BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said. ''Our execution will now have to be better from top to bottom because of Taysom's ability to create. There just isn't another Taysom Hill out there anywhere.''

A 6-foot-2 junior, Hill came into Friday's game having passed for 876 yards and six touchdowns and run for 428 yards and seven scores. In the first half against Utah State he was 8 of 11 for 99 yards and a TD, plus 35 yards and a TD on the ground.

Hill began the game in familiar style when he went deep down the right side to Jordan Leslie for 53 yards on the first play. Four plays later, Hill scrambled left from the 11-yard line and hurdled a defender at the goal line to put the Cougars on top only 1:16 into the game.

After the Aggies tied it 7-7, the Cougars regained the lead when Hill lofted a pass to Mitch Matthews in the end zone from 25 yards out.

Hill was scrambling right when Utah State safety Brian Suite pulled him down, landing awkwardly on Hill's lower left leg. The junior quarterback was carted to the locker room and never returned. He's scheduled for surgery Saturday and will be out three to four months.

Though he was celebrating a big victory, Utah State coach Matt Wells felt for the BYU star.

''That kid is a tremendous competitor. I hate that for him,'' Wells said.

Hill's profile had been on the rise with victories over Houston and Texas this season.

''When you talk about dual-threat, if you looked up a dual-threat quarterback in a dictionary, they should have his picture there as an example,'' Houston coach Tony Levine said last month.

Texas defensive coordinator Vance Bedford said BYU's quarterback reminds him of Tim Tebow. Hill threw for 181 yards and ran for 99 more with three touchdowns in BYU's 41-7 dismantling of the Longhorns.

''He is like a fullback when he gets the ball in his hands,'' Bedford said.

Against Houston, Hill threw for 200 yards and a touchdown, and rushed for 160 yards on 26 carries with another score. The performance put him over 4,000 yards passing and 2,000 yards rushing for his career, a feat only 14 other quarterbacks have accomplished in FBS history.

Last season as a sophomore, Hill had six games with 100-plus yards rushing. He finished with 4,282 yards in total offense, fifth on BYU's accomplished single-season list behind Steve Young, Jim McMahon and Ty Detmer (twice).

Originally committed to Stanford, Hill came to BYU instead following his LDS mission in Australia. He played in six games as a freshman, starting two, before a knee injury cut his season short.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

share