BYU football: A toast to Taysom Hill

Here’s to Taysom Hill, BYU football’s greatest running quarterback. He wouldn’t lay down when they said that he was broken. He just strapped back on his helmet.

When BYU football launched into conference independence, Taysom’s was a story that we couldn’t stop watching.

The tales of him lifting with lineman. The vision of him running as defenders snatched at his heels. How he’d stiff-arm would-be tacklers into the turf, and shake off sacks, and turn dead-to-rights into first down dashes. How he played, and ran, a quarter and a half on a broken foot.

His signature play–the Longhorn Leap, the Hurdle, the Leap of Faith.

Taysom’s story on the football field ended against Utah State on Saturday. Deep in the game, driving to salt away the Aggies, he threw his body into the fray. And like so many times before against USU, his body gave way.

Two plays later, Tanner Mangum threw the game-sealing touchdown pass in relief. Leading by 18, with the BYU defense playing better every snap, the win was no longer in question.

Hill’s final drive was a microcosm of his career.

His drive to win. His god-like athleticism. The confidence with which he was able to shoulder the load and carry his team to victory. And how he had to leave the field before he could finish it.

Taysom had to know, with the way he played, that the next play might always be his last. He’d tried to play other ways. But this is what was in him: this was the kind of football he was made for.

We all might wonder what might have been. Had his power not exceeded his strength, who knows what records and wins Taysom might have owned. No, he wasn’t flawless under center. But without a doubt, he etched his name firmly in BYU football lore, and played the game the right way.

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Here’s to Taysom Hill. A loyal Cougar who gave his everything, who made us proud to wear the Y.