When the legendary coach Bo Schembechler arrived in Ann Arbor to take over the Michigan Wolverines, Henry Hill told him he could run a 4.6 40 yard dash. Hill was a defensive lineman playing nose guard and naturally Schembechler did not believe him. Hill simply lined up and showed him. As a brand new coach at the school, he had to have been impressed. Even though Henry Hill was fast, he was never really very big, either.

Growing up on the mean streets of Detroit, Henry Hill played high school football at Martin Luther King High School although it was called Eastern High School when Hill was there. Hill was a great student and played football, but there was no interest in him as an athlete because he played tight end. There aren’t a lot of 5-10 tight ends played major college football. Not all was lost for Hill and

Michigan awarded him an academic scholarship.

It was a way to get to college and Hill jumped all over that.

In the spring of 1968, the sophomore Henry Hill tried out for the Michigan Wolverines football team. Apparently, he impressed the coaches enough to get invited back to fall camp. Then head coach Bump Elliott and his staff were impressed with his quickness and he moved up the depth chart pretty quickly.

As about a 5-10, 200 nose guard, Hill started more than half of Michigan’s games as a sophomore in 1968. He was obviously way too small even for these times to play in the defensive line and especially right in the middle of the line. That’s what they said, but he did it and he did it very well. His quickness allowed him to get past offensive linemen and plant himself in the opponents back field time and time again. I wouldn’t want to be the one to try and tell Henry Hill he was too small to play nose guard for a major college football team.

This small guy played well enough as a true sophomore walk-on to earn second team All Big 10 recognition. Purdue had a really good nose man in Chuck Kyle who was a consensus All American on the 1968 team. But, the big name in the Big 10 in these times was Ohio State nose guard Jim Stillwagon, who was in the same class as Hill. Kyle and Stillwagon were 1st and 2nd team nose guards on the All Big 10 team, but they worked Henry Hill in at defensive tackle. He was simply too good to leave off an honors team.

Along came Bo Schembechler when Bump Elliott was gone after the 1968 season. Hill was again the starter and even though the Wolverines finished their season 8-3, they pulled one of the greatest upsets of all time by beating the mighty top ranked Ohio State Buckeyes and won the Big 10. Unfortunately, they ran into another great team in the Rose Bowl in the unbeaten USC Trojans and Michigan lost.

Henry Hill started every game in 1969 for Schembechler. Previously mentioned Jim Stillwagon from rival Ohio State was similar to Hill in a lot of ways. Stillwagon was much undersized, but he may have gained enough weight to play at around 230, or 240, by the time he was a senior. He was quick, and he was nasty, and very hard to block. Stillwagon would be moved back to Linebacker on

occasion and he was fast enough to make plays from sideline to sideline. He was also able to do that from his nose guard position. Stillwagon was 1st team All Big 10 nose guard in 1969 and Hill was 2nd team. Stillwagon was also a consensus All American in 1969.
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But, when the two teams played and Michigan pulled the great upset, Hill was dominating and had 13 tackles.

Henry Hill was a senior in 1970 and in his third season as a starter at a powerful football school like Michigan. He was now listed as 5-11, 220 but he probably had a few rocks in his pockets when he stepped on the scales.

There is not a lot of game film available on Hill, or his teammates, other than the Ohio State games. But, in the rare footage, you can see what Hill was capable of doing against top competition.

Jim Stillwagon was again a consensus All American in 1970 and Hill was second team All American. On the All Big 10 team, they were both voted 1st team.

Henry Hill’s game was built around quickness and speed. In the 1970 Ohio State game, Hill was buried under a double team a time, or two. But, he also used that 4.6 speed to be in the Buckeye backfield a good portion of the time disrupting their offense.

The college football world is full of stories like Henry Hill, in that they were never offered a

scholarship to play football. In recent times, Heisman Trophy winner and the very first pick in the most recent NFL Draft Baker Mayfield was a well celebrated walk-on. In fact, Mayfield walked on at two schools before he found the success he was looking for.

Every year, there is a trophy given out to the nation’s best walk-on in that particular season and it’s named after Brandon Burlsworth another walk-on that earned starting honors at offensive guard for the Arkansas Razorbacks. Not only did Burlsworth start, but he earned All American honors. Burlsworth, upon watching film, may be the most technically perfect offensive lineman that I’ve seen. He was a fat kid that wanted to play football and transformed himself due to his work habits and coaching into a great football player.

There’s been others, plenty of others, and another one will rise this season and become a star. Henry Hill was just one of those from around 50 years ago that rose from a bad neighborhood and made something of himself on and off the gridiron.