Mississippi State got a huge boost on Wednesday, as senior to be All-SEC tailback Kylin Hill announced he was removing his name from consideration in the 2020 NFL Draft and will return to Starkville for his final year.
— Kylin Hill (@H_Kylin) January 15, 2020
Hill led the SEC in rushing in the regular season, finishing the 2019 campaign with 1350 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns, a yardage mark good for second best in school history. Hill was voted first team all-SEC by the Associated Press and second team by the league’s coaches. Hill’s career 2477 yards rushing are good for 10th all time at Mississippi State.
Hill’s role at Mississippi State will be an interesting one, as the hire of Mike Leach shifts the Bulldogs away from the power running offense utilized by Dan Mullen and Joe Moorhead to a wide open aerial attack. Leach has never coached a 1000 yard rusher in this 18 seasons at the helm of Texas Tech or Washington State, but his backs traditionally have caught as many or more passes than any Bulldog receiver did a season ago. Hill carried the ball by himself in 2019 more than Leach’s Washington State team did in total, with leading rusher Max Borghi carrying the ball 145 times for 817 yards, adding 86 catches for 597 yards. Hill caught 18 passes a season ago for the Bulldogs.
MSU also received word that junior linebacker Erroll Thompson would return to Starkville as well, proving the Bulldog defense a big boost. Thompson led the Bulldogs with 84 tackles in 2019, and will be counted on to provide leadership to what will be a young but talented Bulldog defense in 2020. MSU is losing two juniors on that side of the ball, with cornerback Cam Dantzler and linebacker Willie Gay heading into the Draft.
Photo courtesy of Mississippi State athletics
