One of the best plays of Trysten Hill’s college career didn’t even come on defense

There are a lot of elements to Trysten Hill’s game to like, that’s a big reason why the Dallas Cowboys drafted him with the 58th overall pick last week.

Hill looks to be one of the more disruptive defensive tackles that the Cowboys have had come through their locker room in some time. This is a position many have screamed for them to address and lo and behold, they finally did.

If you’re still wondering exactly what Dallas got from their new man in the middle then you might want to listen to the latest episode of The Ocho where Jeff Sharon of SB Nation’s Black and Gold Banneret joined me to give us the details on Rod Marinelli’s new toy. They have a draft profile up on Hill that’s worth checking out, too.

Among the many things that Jeff shared, for those who are unaware, is that one of Hill’s more incredible plays while at UCF last season didn’t even happen on defense. With the Knights trailing and needing a huge fourth-down conversion they gambled on a short-yardage situation. They decided to run the ball (whoa that sounds familiar) behind the fortress that is Trysten Hill.

The play led to a huge UCF touchdown which turned into a thrilling victory for them. We’ve seen defensive tackles used as blockers before, but so rarely when it works out in epic fashion. As Jeff notes, it speaks to Hills versatility as an athlete, his willingness to do whatever it takes to help his team win (Jason Garrett is smiling), and basically how awesome he is at anything he does. He even shared the play with a fun edit afterwards.

A lot has been said about Hill’s immaturity, but I thought that Jeff brought up a great comparison when he mentioned the movie Miracle and how Jim Craig refused to take the psychology tests that Team USA coach Herb Brooks was administering to the team. If you haven’t seen the film, Craig is the goalie for the team and simply wants to do that - play goalie. He doesn’t see the purpose in taking a psychology test and is somewhat reprimanded for it.

Later on, during a confrontation between Craig and Brooks, the former succumbs and says that he’ll take whatever test he has to in order to play. That’s when Brooks tells him that he no longer wants to see him take the test, he wants to see the guy that wouldn’t take the test play for him. This isn’t an exact comparison to what Trysten Hill experience at UCF, but considering he underwent a coaching change that wanted him to do something different, it’s comparable. He wants to play defensive tackle and destroy the pocket. That’s probably why Rod Marinelli likes him so much.

A big thanks to Jeff and the Black and Gold Banneret for taking some time to educate us on who Trysten Hill is and the things that make him special. He also threw a large amount of kudos in the direction of Tony Pollard, who UCF played twice last season. He was hard for them to stop, although not too tough for his brand new teammate.

Imagine Trysten blocking for Zeke!