Fall Football: Tyreek Hill
American football player Tyreek Hill
© Jamie Squire, Getty Images
With every September come the Friday night lights. It’s football season in America.
On the professional scene, Tyreek Hill is a star wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). In 2021, Hill entered his sixth season with the Kansas City Chiefs. Hill ranks among the fastest players in the NFL. He has also excelled as a kick and punt returner.
In the 2020 season, Hill scored 2 rushing touchdowns and 15 receiving touchdowns. He tied Dwayne Bowe for the Chiefs’ record for most receiving touchdowns in a single season. Hill also became the first wide receiver on the Chiefs to record at least 100 points in a season.
In 2018, Hill established himself as one of the best wide receivers in football. He gathered 1,630 rushing and receiving yards and scored 13 touchdowns, in a powerful offense headed by the quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Hill missed four games due to injury in 2019, but he remained one of the team’s top receivers as Mahomes led the Chiefs to defeat the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV. Hill had another outstanding season in 2020, recording 1,399 rushing and receiving yards and a career-high 17 touchdowns.
The Chiefs selected Hill in the fifth round of the 2016 NFL Draft, the 165th pick overall. The Chiefs used him as a return specialist and part-time wide receiver during his rookie year. He returned two punts and one kickoff for touchdowns and totaled 1,836 all-purpose yards, finishing fourth in the league. In 2017, the Chiefs stopped using him for kickoff returns to expand his use as a wide receiver.
Hill was born March 1, 1994, in Pearson, Georgia. He went to Coffee High School in Douglas, where he played basketball and football. He attended Garden City Community College from 2012 to 2014, before accepting a football scholarship from Oklahoma State University (OSU). He stood out as a utility player at OSU, excelling as a running back, wide receiver, and kick and punt returner. In December 2014, Hill was arrested following a violent confrontation with his girlfriend. OSU dismissed him from the football team as a result, and he later pleaded guilty to domestic abuse. Following the dismissal, Hill transferred to the University of West Alabama, playing football there his senior year.
