BYU Cougars

Healthy Hill eager for opener

Published Jun. 29, 2015 11:43 p.m. ET

foxsports

It's hard for Taysom Hill not to think about what could have been. In 2014, the BYU quarterback guided the Cougars to a 4-0 start before disaster struck in the fifth game of the season.

Facing off against Utah State, Hill sustained a season-ending leg injury as the Cougars fell 35-20.

“I think about it all the time,” Hill told the Associated Press. “I think about those first four games I was playing in last year all the time. I get emotional thinking about that.

“I love playing football. I love playing for BYU. Thinking about Nebraska, Week 1 gets me very excited. I’m very emotional about it.”

BYU would go on to lose its next three game before righting the ship and ending the year winning four of its last five contests.

Hill, who completed 66.7 percent of his passes for 975 yards and seven TDs in last year, has moved on from 2014 and is focused on the upcoming season.

“At the end of the day, you can choose to be bitter,” Hill told the AP. “(Or) you can choose to say, ‘Hey, yeah this stinks. Let’s make the most of it.’ I’ve got another year to showcase what I can do as an athlete, as a quarterback and as a BYU football team. So let’s make the most of it.”

BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall would love to see Hill make the most of it, which is why he is trying to devise ways to keep his dual-threat QB from taking so many hits.

“Taysom will continue, on any given play, to try to take over the game if he thinks it’s going to help us win,” Mendenhall told the AP. “Our job is to develop a structure that limits the number of times he has a chance to do that, but also gives him an occasional freedom to do that when necessary.”

(h/t Omaha.com)