University Southern California Trojans
DeShaun Hill Profile
November 06, 2000 | Football
Nov. 6, 2000
Sophomore safety DeShaun Hill has only played at USC for two years, but he's been a Trojan since he was a young boy.
Like most kids, Hill used to like to spend his time sitting around and playing video games. His uncle Derek noticed this and suggested to Hill that perhaps he should try playing football. So the 10-year-old joined a Pop Warner football team whose name would be a foreshadowing of things to come.
"The name of the team was the Poly Trojans," said Hill, who also played with current Trojan defensive back Darrell Rideaux on that team. "They put me on defense and I found out right away that I could play. That's pretty much how it happened. I was just out there having fun."
Bitten by the football bug, Hill dedicated himself to the sport and went on to play at Poly High in Long Beach, Calif., a high school known for its football excellence.
"It's a great tradition that we have going on there," said Hill, whose Poly teammates included current Trojans Rideaux, Kareem Kelly and Michael Pollard. "Before I was even born, the system was set. It was well known that players who come out of Poly are talented and well coached."
Hill had a solid junior year for the Jackrabbits, but just as his football career seemed to be taking off, a devastating leg injury knocked him off course.
"I broke my leg the first day of pads during my senior season," said Hill, who subsequently missed out on Poly's 1997 state championship run. "It hurt a lot. For the first seven games I didn't even go to practice. We were winning every game, but I was not playing. It just hurt a lot."
In addition to coping with the fact that his career at Long Beach Poly was over, Hill also had to face the realization that he was losing his opportunity to impress college recruiters.
"My getting a scholarship was pretty much based on my performance my senior year and I thought that was going to be big for me," Hill said. "But since I got hurt, I didn't have any colleges talking to me. I knew right then and there that if I wanted to keep playing football I was going to have to go to a junior college."
However, Hill didn't just sit around and wait for his injury to heal. Instead, he dedicated himself to learning how to play defense at the collegiate level.
"My senior year I went to Long Beach City College practices and tried to learn the defenses," Hill said. "I used to go up there every day and work out with them. I was just watching and learning."
Hill's effort paid off. He enrolled at Long Beach City College (where yet another current Trojan, Markus Steele, was his teammate) and, as a freshman safety, Hill made the 1998 All-Mission Conference Northern Division second team. He ended up with 68 tackles, eight deflections and one forced fumble. In one game alone he had 16 tackles and five deflections. More importantly, his play earned him the attention of USC, which offered him a scholarship. Though he had only one year of college under his belt, Hill felt like he was ready to take the next step.
"I felt like I could play the game," Hill said. "I was ready. I had qualified academically and I wanted to come out."
Hill got his wish and once again became a Trojan, only this time he was wearing the Cardinal and Gold. Though he redshirted his first year at USC due to a back injury, Hill has made the most of his opportunities in 2000, especially after the season-ending injury to senior free safety Ifeanyi Ohalete. Hill has stepped in and been a pleasant suprise, starting four games at free safety and totalling 33 tackles, two interceptions (tied for the team lead) and four deflections.
"For me personally, getting the chance to play and start is very exciting," Hill said. "I feel our secondary has a great future. We have everybody coming back next year and we're still learning, so we'll be ready to go."
Learning how to become a smarter player seems to be something Hill has always been willing to do. He says that former Poly and USC safety Mark Carrier, the 1989 Thorpe Award winner, is his role model as a player, mostly because of the intelligence that Carrier brings to his position.
"I love Mark Carrier," Hill said. "He is just so smart. It's like he knows what the offense is going to run before they run it. I don't know how he does it, but my goal is to be just like him."
Not a bad idea.
by Erin Szymanski
Sports Information Student Assistant
