BYU's Taysom Hill understands risk and reward better than most

Dan Wolken | USA TODAY Sports

PROVO, Utah — There was that time in his first career start against Hawaii that Taysom Hill took off through a hole and just kept going, outrunning the pursuit angle of a safety and a cornerback and leaving his BYU teammates slack-jawed at the notion their freshman quarterback just did something like that.

There was that time at Texas a defender tried desperately to stop him from the end zone by diving at his knees only to end up underneath him, looking up — and looking silly — as Hill hurdled him for a touchdown.

There was that time last fall against Utah State when he laid on the turf, knowing immediately his ankle was broken along with BYU's storybook season, and he refused to let the training staff help him to the sideline, preferring to hop on one leg and push back the pain until he could go back to the locker room and cry.

And then there was the time in the weight room this summer when Hill, his body fully healed, demanded to know which player had squatted the most. Informed his center, Tejan Koroma, had hit a maximum repetition 425, Hill proceeded to squat 430.

"He's just Idaho country strong," BYU's head athletic trainer Steve Pincock said. "About once every 10 years you get a freak like that."

Everyone at BYU, it seems, has a story about Hill's toughness, his crazy physical strength, his natural charisma, his elite speed and a competitive streak that sometimes bleeds into recklessness.

"My problem," Hill said, "is I think i'm going to take every (play) to the house."

But at some point between last Oct. 3 when his burgeoning Heisman Trophy campaign ended and preparation began for one final shot at BYU, Hill discovered that his greatest asset — and perhaps his future — may have nothing to do with football.

Debilitated to the point he couldn't walk for weeks and inspired by a 45-minute phone conversation with current Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, who once recruited him to Stanford, Hill, a finance major at BYU's Marriott School of Management, threw himself into his studies and landed an internship at a venture capital firm that specializes in funding early-stage technology companies before they go public or even generate revenue and — hopefully — deliver a massive return on investment.

Suddenly, Hill started caring more about the Wall Street Journal than SportsCenter. He turned down the quarterback camp circuit for a summer of building financial models and sitting in on meetings in New York with European investors. And often, on the 45-minute drive in his white Chevy Impala from BYU's workout facility to an office that overlooks Mitt Romney's neighborhood in the Salt Lake City suburbs, the 24-year old, middle class son of an electrician and an elementary school teacher wondered whether the identity he's built and the trajectory of his career was changing before his own eyes.

"I was born and raised in Pocatello, Idaho," Hill said. "I had no idea what went on on Wall Street, and then I started to see all these things and see the opportunities and I loved it. It filled the void of not being able to complete and play and all those things, but I was also able to progress in other areas of my life. The NFL, that's my No. 1 goal. That's what I want to do. But I've also had two season-ending injuries. I'm not stupid. I know things can change like that, and I don't want to have something like that happen and not have anything (else)."

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Hill's time with Pelion Venture Partners, which ended last week with the start of fall camp looming, was far more involved than the typical internship. He was in meetings with the firm's partners trying to raise capital for a new venture fund worth north of $200 million. He researched and put together presentations on block chain technology, which is the platform for housing and tracking virtual currency (i.e., Bitcoin) transactions. He put together a buyout offer to liquidate the position of an investor who passed away. He watched the NFL Draft from a hotel room in Cincinnati, eating pizza with Ben Lambert, one of the firm's senior associates as they attended a convention.

"If he's getting drafted in the sixth or seventh round and he has a job opportunity to go work for Goldman Sachs in New York or San Francisco, it'd be very tough for me to say he should go play pro football," said Lambert, a BYU alum. "He'll make a lot more money not only in the long run but probably in the short- to medium-term. Save your body, save your head and go do this. I think he'll be happier, his family will be happier and long-term it will be better for him. That said, he's just one freaking good season away from being potentially the No. 1 quarterback drafted. If that's the case, game on."

Because of the injuries — Hill tore the lateral collateral ligament (LCL) in his left knee halfway through his freshman season, remarkably, in a collision with the same Utah State player who broke his ankle last year — it is difficult to tell what his ceiling might be.

BYU overhauled its offense in 2013, going to a more up-tempo style, and it took some tweaks along the way before Hill felt comfortable. But last season Hill looked like one of the most dynamic players in the country, running for 99 yards against UConn, 99 against Texas, 160 against Houston and 72 against Virginia. He was also much more dangerous in the passing game, completing 66.7% of his throws with just three interceptions in 132 attempts.

With his speed, ability to extend plays and flair for the dramatic — like the hurdling touchdown at Texas in a 41-7 victory — Hill started to look a little bit like Johnny Manziel, only in a 6-foot-2, 230-pound body with bigger legs than most linemen.

"Typically we organize the guys on the platform by strength," said BYU's director of football performance Frank Wintrich. "Rack 1 is our strongest guys, and it filters around the room so you've got your starting center, your starting defensive tackle and your starting quarterback. With most teams that's never the case, and that's not an accident. He wants to be there, which is pretty cool. The other guys love that stuff."

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But when the Legend of Taysom collapsed in a heap against Utah State, the Cougars' season quickly derailed. In an instant, they went from visions of a major bowl game to four consecutive losses before recovering in time to finish 8-5.

"Emotionally, we lost our quarterback, we lost to Utah State and it was kind of just like, oh, well, we're independent so where do we go now?" offensive tackle Ryker Mathews said.

Hill was healthy enough to participate in some of spring practice, and with significant experience returning on offense, the stakes and the expectations are high for a program trying to navigate independence while waiting for an invitation from a power conference.

The schedule BYU put together this season — opening with a gauntlet of Nebraska, Boise State, UCLA and Michigan — was built with Hill's maximum potential mind.

But the balance between allowing Hill to play with the reckless abandon that comes naturally and keeping him on the field might not be so easy.

"The way teams have to completely change their whole dynamics just to focus on him is pretty incredible," receiver Mitch Mathews said. "With him there, we're hard to beat. Nobody's going to see a guy with a limp, a guy who's slower. He looks the same, just as fast, just as strong. But when he tucks that ball and runs, he plays like he's a crazy man. Obviously we want to keep him healthy. You want to see him slide. You don't want to see him take hits and show up the next day with his skin looking purple and black all over."

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Hill isn't sure he'll be capable of changing. It's part of who he is, a byproduct of years spent challenging his older brothers — one of whom played linebacker at Arizona State, the other playing quarterback at Division II Dixie State — at everything they did. It may be up to BYU's coaches to call more handoffs in short-yardage situations and dial up more drop-back passes to save Hill from the hits he'd otherwise be inclined to take.

And for Hill, who said he's suffered one concussion, during the final game of the 2013 season, but didn't realize it until later that night when he couldn't sleep, that risk is something he's becoming more and more conscious about.

"The concussion stuff freaks me out, and given my experience (at Pelion), I've realized my greatest asset is my mind," he said. "Football is always going to be a means to an end. The physicality of the game, your body can't hold up. There's life after football and I do worry. I don't want to put myself in jeopardy. I probably need to be more cautious, but this is me. It still isn't going to change the way I play."

But it may change his future after BYU.

Hill, whose wife Emily is also a finance major at BYU, has already networked with a number of firms about job opportunities, some of whom have indicated they'd be willing to wait to see how the NFL plays out. But some of the big names, he fears, won't wait — particularly since the interview process for those jobs typically takes place on weekends in the fall when he'll be rather occupied with other matters.

But Hill's intelligence and aptitude shouldn't be any surprise, particularly given that he was supposed to be Andrew Luck's heir apparent at Stanford until the school wanted him to return six months early from his Church of Latter Day Saints mission to Australia, at which point he decided to attend BYU.

Blake Modersitzki, one of Pelion's founding partners, said Hill will have plenty of options — whether the football is part of the equation or not. He was such a good fit in the office, Modersitzki said they're flying all 10 employees to BYU's game at UCLA for one of their semi-annual retreats.

"The reason we offered him a job had nothing to do with him being the quarterback at BYU, it was the mature mentality of how he viewed and looked at the balance if you can find any between what he does in his school, with his career aspirations and his sports aspirations and across the board," Modersitzki said. "We have the confidence where we can take him into these meetings and he can hold his own. We'd love to have him come back and join us at some point, in the future, but he's going to have lots of decisions."

And perhaps a few more stories. In five years, though, is the legend of Taysom Hill going to be about running over linebackers in the NFL or running a hedge fund on Wall Street?

"I'm totally comfortable with taking some risk, but as long as it's doctrinated in something that makes sense," he said. "Trying to find as many ways to minimize the risks we're taking is my philosophy. This whole thing is risky. There's not a 100% sure investment in this business."

Hill wasn't talking about football, but given everything at stake for him in the next year — his BYU legacy, an NFL career, his health, and perhaps even the Heisman Trophy — he might as well have been.

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