Taysom Hill says he plans to be back in 2015

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Taysom Hill told media Tuesday that he will stay at BYU for his senior season and plans to be back in some kind of participating shape by spring practice.

BYU’s former starting quarterback said he is looking forward to the opportunity to play for a national audience next season, after he recovers from the leg fracture he sustained in the Cougars’ Oct. 3 game against Utah State.

“I’m extremely excited,” he said. “I love BYU. … I’ll work as hard as I can from here and throughout the season.”

Taysom Hill runs the football in BYU's Sept. 20 win over Virginia. (Universe Photo)
Taysom Hill runs the football in BYU’s Sept. 20 win over Virginia. (Universe Photo)

Hill dismissed rumors that he would skip out on his senior year in favor of preparing for NFL options.

“There’s more to life than football,” Hill said. “I’m going to graduate (in) the finance program next December, and for a lot of reasons it doesn’t make sense to leave. It’s something that I’m still continuing to look into, and I’ll see what happens, but as of right now that’s where I stand.”

He described himself as the team’s biggest cheerleader and said he has told his teammates he’s there to support them.

Hill also expressed confidence in quarterback Christian Stewart.

“He’s been prepared, and he’a a smart guy and knows the offense. … So I’ve been there to support and help him when I can.”

Compared to his 2012 knee injury, Hill said being married and involved in the finance program prepared him to better handle injury this time around.

“In light of all those things it helped give me perspective on life, and I realize that, as much as I love to play football, football was always going to be a means to an end, right? And hopefully my career is long, but again, it’s a means to an end,” he said.

He even said his recovery has given him a little more time to focus on school, which ended up being a good outlet for coping with not being able to quarterback his team.

“I was able to turn my attention to primarily academics, so I wasn’t able to compete on the field, but I was able to compete in the classroom.”

As far as what could have prevented the leg fracture in the first place, Hill was indecisive, mentioning that the injury was probably a fluke, but the kind of quick offense BYU was running might have left him a little bit vulnerable.

“At the end of the day, it’s football,” he said. “I know every day when I put the helmet on and strap up that there’s likelihood that I could get injured. Going forward, though, I would like to do everything I can to minimize the risk.”

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