Lloyd Hill savoring second college football career via his son | Williams

don williams, lubbock avalanche-journal

Fri, Oct 20, 2023, 11:31 AM·5 min read

In the players' family section Saturday at LaVell Edwards Stadium, Lloyd Hill plans to be conspicuous. In a sea of Brigham Young blue, Hill says he'll be wearing a Texas Tech shirt and a BYU cap.

Hill was an all-American receiver during his time as a Texas Tech football player. For the past five years, though, he's rarely missed a game involving BYU, his son being a wide receiver for the Cougars. Tech and BYU square off at 6 p.m. CDT Saturday in Provo, Utah.

"I'll have my Red Raider shirt on for sure," Hill said. "I told my son, 'You better hope I don't get a sideline pass, because if I do and I see you running out there trying to catch a pass, I'm going to knock it down.' "

More generously, he said, "Of course I'll be cheering for Tech, because that's my school. But at the same time, I'll be cheering that my son has a really good game."

In four-plus seasons with the Cougars, Keanu has 71 receptions for 1,143 yards and 11 touchdowns. Last year, he put up career highs: 36 catches, 572 yards, seven TDs. This season, he's at 10 catches, 118 yards and one TD.

From 1990-93, as part of a prolific set of skill players with quarterback Robert Hall and Doak Walker Award winner Bam Morris, Lloyd Hill set school records with 189 catches for 3,059 yards and 20 touchdowns. Such was Hill's impact that he was inducted into the Texas Tech Athletics Hall of Fame at age 33.

More: Austin McNamara back in familiar place when Texas Tech football visits BYU

Column: Redshirt would be right move for Jacob Rodriguez | Williams

Keanu played high-school football at Euless Trinity. His FBS scholarship offers came from BYU and Wyoming, but he would have loved to have followed in his dad's footsteps.

"I've grown up always watching Texas Tech football," he said, "just because every time he had it on, I would go right next to him and sit down and watch the games with him. So it means a lot to me to be going up against the Red Raiders."

Nowadays, those wanting to watch a game next to Lloyd Hill should put on sneakers and get ready to walk. Watching his son play makes him nervous. Hill might begin in the family section, toward the BYU locker room in the second row.

"I'll start off there," Lloyd said, "but then I'll end up at the top. I typically move around the stadium. I'm never in one place."

Keanu, listed at 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, is about two inches taller and 25 pounds heavier than his father during Lloyd's playing days.

"The difference between me and him, it's night and day," Lloyd said. "I was the quiet one. I thought I did pretty good, but I was the quiet type. He's more of an outgoing player. He's the hype man on the team."

Asked how their styles resembled, Keanu said, "I would say our hands. Our hands for sure are mainly alike. A little bit of our routes are kind of alike, but I would say I've got more speed on him."

Indeed, Lloyd Hill was neither the biggest receiver nor the fastest, but his hands, body control and subtleties for playing the position resulted in seasons such as 1992 when he caught 76 passes for 1,261 yards and 12 touchdowns. He earned second-team all-America recognition that year.

Now he watches BYU with more than casual interest, wanting the younger Hill to be the best he can be.

"I'm probably his worst critic," Lloyd said, "because I see the coverages, I see the route running, I see the whole package. When the game is over — even sometimes during the games — I'll go to the sideline and tell him, 'Hey, that was a terrible route. You've got to work on that.' "

At Arkansas this year, in a game BYU won 38-31, Keanu ran what his dad described as the worst slant route he'd ever seen. At halftime, with the team along the ramp to the locker room, he got the ear of Keanu's position coach.

"I told him, 'Tell Hill that was a horrible slant route. He had to push up outside, didn't come back inside,' " Lloyd said. "So yeah, I watch with a critical eye. I know sometimes he hates to see me, because he knows what I'm going to say."

Keanu says he appreciates hard coaching. As far back as peewee football, his father dwelled not on what he did well, but on the elements of his game needing work.

"He tries to focus on the things I can improve on," the Cougars' wideout said. "I've always loved that about him. He's always looking for things I can improve on. He's been a huge help. He's been really a huge help on how I look at the game and how I take it head on."