ASK THE STEELERS – TONY HILLS – PART 2
Steelers.com brings you the Ask the Steelers feature. Fans submitted the
questions that were asked. Please understand that we receive an incredible
number of questions for each player, with many of the questions being similar,
and not all of the questions can be answered. We selected as many as possible,
and took your questions to the current subject to get your
answers.
From
Tom Grant in Chicago, Illinois: You protected Vince Young and college and Ben
Roethlisberger is your quarterback. Both of them like to scramble and use their
legs. What kind of
adjustments do you have to make on the fly when your quarterback starts to
improvise?
Tony
Hills: It’s one of those things
that you just have to find out how to read him. You see what the situation is,
if they are blitzing off the edge does he like to duck under or try to outrun
it. It just depends on who you are blocking. If he is a ducker you want to take
the closest person to him. If he tries to scramble outside you might want to
take the widest person. I have played with a lot of scrambling quarterbacks and
it is something I am used to.
From Thomas Kross in Culpeper, Virginia: How quickly do you think you can adjust
to the nuisances of the NFL - pass protection schemes, etc.?
Tony
Hills: I am going to try to get
adjusted as quick as possible. It’s a lot different from college. You get to
spend all of your waking hours studying football. I am hoping by studying and
working with the coaches and veteran players I can get it down fast.
From John Baloga in Dupont, Pennsylvania: It was documented that you had
some lower leg circulatory problems that had been corrected by
surgery. Are there any lingering effects of that injury that
may limit your mobility?
Tony
Hills: Not at all. I have been
saying it for four years but the best way to show that I am fine is to go out
and prove it.
From Chuck Dettling
in Atmore, Alabama: How important is it to have
your Texas teammate Limas Sweed, and Casey Hampton, also from your alma mater,
on the team?
Tony Hills:
It will
definitely help a lot because you go in knowing some people. That helps with the
comfort factor. Casey has been there, has been successful and knows the
organization in and out. He can give me pointers on what I need to do to be
success at this level. Then you have the comfort level of having your college
teammate who you played with for four years and I lived with in the summer. We
worked out together all of the time. It gives you that extra push and when times
get hard you can lean on each other.
From Paul Lytle in Greensburg,
Pennsylvania: What would you say is your strength, run blocking or pass
protection?
Tony Hills: I
am trying to make both of them my strengths right now. I try to be as balanced
as I can because they are both important.
From Andrew Williams
in Sarasota, Florida: Which side do you prefer to play on, the right on the
left?
Tony
Hills: Definitely the left because
it is what I played the last four years. That is the quarterbacks blind side so
it’s a lot of responsibility to make sure you protect him. I am always up to
challenges.
From Ben Jewel in
Louisville, Kentucky: Is it strange coming in as a rookie and basically starting
over again like when you were a freshman?
Tony
Hills: Definitely. I have never
been in this situation before. I was never in Pittsburgh before mini-camp. You
see how things are run for the couple of days that we are there. Everything was
at a fast past. You get what you can on the fly and do the best you can. It will
be a lot different in training camp when they have more time to spend with
us.
