Queens-Own Star Running Back Arrested Just Before the Draft

When I originally started out this sinking ship that I call a website, one of the main things that I wanted to continually post was the arrest reports coming from all over the country regarding college football players.

To me, this information is even better than finding out who is ranked number one in the pre-season February poll. I mean, who cares about the rankings seven months before the start of the season. But I couldn't keep up with the task, it was just daunting.

But this one hits a little closer to home and it's just a real shame. For those of you that have been following my college football analysis over the years, you have heard the name P.J. Hill time and time again.

P.J. was born and raised in Queens NY and had an exceptional High School football career at Poly Prep in Brooklyn where he was a three year starter for the City Champions. Hill racked up over 3,000 yards rushing and was offered scholarships by Wisconsin, Syracuse and Indiana.

In the grand scheme of college football recruiting, P.J. Hill was little more than a blip on the radar screen. Scouts.com had him ranked as a two star running back, and most other big time college football programs never gave him a second look. The problem though, wasn't with P.J. Hill, the problem is that no running backs that play in NYC H.S. Football are ever given serious consideration due to the low level of talent in the opposing teams defense. You can count the number of Division 1 college football prospects coming out of NYC in the past ten years on little more than two hands.

When Hill got up to Wiscy, he sat his first year in a red-shirt behind starting running back and future pro Brian Calhoun, who had transfered over to the school from Colorado.

When Hill got an oppurtunity to start for the perenniel powerhouse the next season in 2006, he never looked back. P.J. was the Big Ten Conference Freshman of the year, Second Team Big Ten and Doak Walker award semi-finalist. Needless to say, he set the world on fire and was quickly on everyone's radar after that.

Hill finished up his career at Camp Randall as the school's third all-time leading rusher, and was one of just two players in school history (Ron Dayne was the other) to have rushed for 1,000 yards or more in each of his first three seasons. He ranks second all-time in total touchdowns.

After his junior year, P.J. declared for the draft and said goodbye to the school. He was never really considered a high draft prospect on anyone's radar. He was deemed to be to big and too slow. There were a lot of comparisons to his running style with the likes of Ron Dayne who never really had productive numbers in the NFL.

And now this, a month before the draft, P.J. Hill leads the police on a high speed chase and is arrested out of his car at gunpoint. Sadly, The Nudge is very disappointed today. I figured the kid would go in the sixth or seventh round, possibly to a team with an already established runnign back. There he could have sat on the bench and waited for his oppurtunity to show that all of the draft pundits that he would outperform their expectations the same way he showed the college recruiting pundits. But after this, that day will never happen.

(SI.com) reports:

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Former Wisconsin running back P.J. Hill has been arrestedon suspicion of drunken driving and leading police on a chase.

The Wiscosnin State Journal reports the 22-year-old Hill was arrested around
2:30a.m. Saturday morning.

The newspaper, citing court documents,
says police were called to a campus-area gas station after a vehicle hit a
guard railand left. Police spotted the car at a traffic light.

Thedriver fled.Police gave chase until the car crashed into a retaining wall.
Hill was arrestedat gunpoint.

Hill was released from jail Monday on a signature bond. His
attorney didn't immediately return messages Monday.

Hill is the third-leading rusher in Wisconsin history and eligible
for the NFL draft.