Stephen Hill saved the worst for last. He’d had a splendid day up until the moment when he dropped the pass that might have clinched the game.
Three minutes into the fourth quarter Saturday afternoon, Georgia Tech led North Carolina by a touchdown. Off a play-action fake on second-and-7, Hill beat his defender so completely you couldn’t tell who his defender was. Twenty yards clear, Hill had only to catch the ball and keep his feet to score his second unencumbered touchdown of the day. He wound up doing neither.
Hill dropped the ball and fell to the turf. When he arose, he was limping. (He returned to the game, but didn’t catch another pass.)
“I tweaked my leg a little bit before the ball got to me,” Hill would say later, and after the game the receiver met the media with ice taped to his left hamstring. He was moving gingerly, but he was able to smile. His team had won, and he had, in all, had a big day.
“I actually have fun playing football,” said Hill, and that marks a departure from last season. Touted as Demaryius Thomas’ successor as Tech’s big-play receiver, Hill caught only 15 passes for 291 yards and three touchdowns.
Through four games this season, he has caught 14 passes for 462 yards and four touchdowns. He’s the same guy, but different.
“Stephen Hill is playing the way we thought he’d play,” Tech coach Paul Johnson said. “He’s a great athlete. ... He’s a tough matchup for any corner.”
Too tough for any Tar Heels cornerback, certainly. Hill caught six passes for 151 yards Saturday. A leaping one-handed snag led to a field goal on the Jackets’ opening drive. (“I used my basketball skills,” Hill said.) His 59-yard touchdown on the first play of a possession gave Tech the lead midway through the second quarter. And his 34-yard reception inside the first half’s 90 seconds positioned the Jackets to take a 10-point lead.
About the latter: At 6-foot-5 and 206 pounds, Hill is a big man. On the 34-yard catch, Hill appeared to push cornerback Tre Boston out of the way. Hill’s take: “We were both fighting for the ball. I swept him past me. You can’t throw a flag there. That’s where strength comes in.”
Of the outrageous one-handed snatch, Hill was honest enough to say: “It kind of surprised me.” And about the drop?
“A lack of focus,” Hill said. Then: “Ain’t nobody perfect.”
