There was a time where they dazzled the local football scene, among the finest all-around players to ever grace the gridiron of Hudson County. They were destined for superstardom, ticketed at a very young age toward a life in professional football.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, was going to stop the skyrocketing careers of Will Hill, known as “The Thrill” of St. Peter’s Prep, and Kenny Britt, the pride of Bayonne High.
Hill was an explosive quarterback and devastating defensive back for the Marauders, helping to lead them to a state championship in 2005. Britt was a sure-handed pass-catching man-child for the Bees, able to grab any pass and take it to the house. Their potential was limitless.
Yours truly had already christened Hill as the best all-around football player he’d ever seen in his 30-year career. Britt showed all the makings of being a sure-fire receiver in college football, then the NFL. It was pure destiny.
But as we all know, things happen along the way. Sure, there are things like injuries and illnesses that curtail grandiose hopes and dreams. It’s happened way too many times to count.
In 1994, this columnist predicted that there were three Hudson County football players destined for a life in the NFL. None of them made it, for a variety of reasons, both on and off the field. It happens that way sometimes. Professional dreams are shattered and crushed, like a pane of glass under a steamroller.
But with Hill and Britt, we all figured nothing could derail their train toward stardom. They had all the talent in the world. They had the physical tools, the size, the speed, the determination. It was a perfect combination, headed to a big-time payday.
However, unlike the three locals who failed to make it 17 years or so ago, these two were guilty of one thing.
Utter stupidity.
And now, both have more than likely flushed their once-promising football careers down the proverbial toilet.
Let’s start with Hill, whose story is a little sadder than Britt’s, because Britt at least got a chance to sniff the big time. Hill will never come close.
Hill’s fall from grace began before he ever left St. Peter’s Prep and headed to the University of Florida.
It started in the third period of Hill’s final high school football game with the Marauders, the 2007 state championship game at Giants Stadium against Don Bosco Prep. He had sprained an ankle earlier in the game, but tried to at least play quarterback in the second half of the game. But Hill didn’t have the lightning quick moves that made him the top player in New Jersey.
Hill’s father climbed over the stands at Giants Stadium and went to the sidelines to tell his son that he wasn’t going back onto the field, not risking his career over a high school game.
Hill then sat on the sidelines for the remainder of the game, watching his teammates get destroyed and humiliated by mighty Bosco.
It got worse. On the day that Hill was supposed to sign his national letter of intent with Florida at Grand and Warren, Hill elected to take his signing to some sports training facility. Hill’s father was reportedly getting paid a few thou from the facility to have the signing there instead of Prep, where nearly 100 Prep grid products signed their collegiate letters over the prior two decades before Hill ever arrived.
That was a sign of things to come.
Hill then headed to the University of Florida as the top-ranked defensive back in the country. But then he had a less than stellar career as a safety. He never lived up to the All-America status that was destined for him in Gainesville. He was suspended twice from the Gators for “non-football related team infractions,” according to former head coach Urban Meyer.
However, while at Florida, Hill created a little bit of a stir of controversy with his now-nationally known Twitter page.
On a Twitter page that appeared to have been written by Hill – which he denied writing — the young football player, now age 20 and the father of three children with two different women, seemed to have run the gamut. The page contained chronicles of salacious behavior with women and a reference to drug use.
The series of posts led to someone developing a webpage entirely for Hill called “The Happy Football Life of Will Hill,” a site that has generated more than one million hits.
The writings on the Twitter account, some of them extremely graphic and extremely racist, certainly raised eyebrows throughout the country. Through Hill’s agent, Darin Morgan, Hill has maintained that he had nothing to do with the horrendous posts, claiming that his account had been hacked. The Twitter account has since been taken down.
Whatever the case, the situation has left Hill’s career in shambles. He left the University of Florida a year early, thinking he could get drafted by an NFL team so he could help support his three kids. But Hill went undrafted in the recent NFL Draft and his future as a possible free agent remains in limbo, especially with the current lockout situation.
No NFL team is going to want to take a chance on someone who appeared to blatantly brag about marijuana use, even if Hill claims his Twitter account was chiseled into.
In the case of Britt, the troubles are definitely far worse. Britt has run afoul of the law more in recent months than he’s run pass patterns for his employer, the Tennessee Titans.
Two weeks ago, Britt appeared in Hudson County Central Judicial Processing on charges from back in April of allegedly speeding and eluding police in Bayonne. The very next day, Britt was arrested in Hoboken when police suspected him of having marijuana, but the official charges were resisting arrest and tampering with evidence.
This came on the heels of prior arrests for having outstanding traffic tickets in Tennessee. There are also two warrants against Britt in Tennessee for allegedly providing inaccurate information on drivers’ license applications, according to published reports.
He also was allegedly involved in a bar fight in Nashville last October and drew some heated controversy when he posted bail in Jersey City for a childhood friend who was wanted on murder charges, then failed to pay the bond he helped secure.
Britt’s friend for whom he posted bail was a real bastion of society. He was charged with allegedly shooting a teenager, then throwing him in the Hudson River. A random act of kindness, for sure.
And just this week, Britt apparently posted on his Facebook page “F— Goddell [sic],” referring to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. He also appears to have posted that he was going to retire rather than face suspension by the league for his apparent criminal actions. A day later, Britt recanted, saying that his Facebook account had been hacked. Just like Hill. It must be something with the water in Hudson County that causes all these accounts to be hacked. Having your social media account hacked is today’s equivalent of the old excuse that the dog ate your homework. It’s not believable by a longshot.
While Britt is better off than Hill, because he’s already under contract, there’s no guarantee that Britt will be with the Titans or any NFL team after the lockout situation is cleared.
No one is going to want to take a chance on someone arrested this many times over the last two years.
Quoting Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio: “I’m sick of Kenny Britt.” Enough said.
So there you have it, two local kids ruining their potential professional football careers over what? Nothing but utter stupidity.
Here’s to hoping that others can live and learn over these two. Maybe then, Will Hill and Kenny Britt can have a tangible legacy of doing something good, instead of being just colossal losers.
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.
You can also read Jim’s blog at www.jimhaguesports.blogspot.com.