That’s the thing about football that teaches you about life. You just have to adjust, you have to face new situations and challenges. You can’t dwell on them because that doesn’t do anything for you. That’s what we’ve learned, just adjusting and having young guys come up and make plays. – Craig Bills
PROVO — It’s hard to be the hammer when you can’t hold the handle and take a swing.
Welcome to the senior season of BYU safety Craig Bills, a notorious big hitter in high school and college whose nickname “The Hammer” faded this fall when a concussion left him on the sidelines and off the team plane.
He’s the caboose on a family football train that’s produced quality players. He made the most of it until this fall when he got knocked silly, his neck bent from impact, and he found himself out of the game when BYU really needed him.
Bills suffered a concussion in the first quarter of the Central Florida game on a kickoff. It happened right after his defense lost starting corner Jordan Johnson to a broken arm.
Bills, who has made brief appearances the past two games, will play his final game in LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday against Savannah State. His story follows a team plot line filled with bumps, bruises, ankle wraps and surgeries.
Through it all, however, Bills represents the perfect BYU football player. He’s plugged in, he’s loyal as a lab, he loves every minute of every day, and he’ll carry the school banner as long as he has legs that move.
“It’s crazy,” said Bills of all of BYU's injuries, which left as many as 11 key players out during a four-game losing streak in October.
“It’s just like (receiver) Colby Pearson last week (fractured collarbone). There’s just a ton of injuries and I don’t think there is anything we could have done to prevent it," said Bills. "All of them have come with just playing football, mine did. Alani Fua’s — he just jumped over a guy and someone rolled over his ankle. It’s freaky.”
Take in hand BYU’s football media guide with Taysom Hill on the cover and open it up to the featured stars, beginning with Hill on page 14. He’s gone. Jamaal Williams on page 15, gone. Bills and Alani Fua are featured on page 16, both multigame injury victims, missing from lineups in October.
Bills said suffering a bad concussion is a tough rite of passage for a player. He’d feel good and then symptoms would come back randomly. He had bad headaches and bouts of lightheadedness. His neck was so stiff, he needed time to even be able to move his head from side to side and make a normal pivot with his chin up and down. He’s had plenty of sessions with trainers and chiropractors and has not had symptoms for a while.
His specialty is delivering big hits, and having thoughts of reinjuring himself is something he has to push out of his mind. “It’s tough and I spoke to Andrew Rich about it. To be able to play and do it my way, I have to have 100 percent confidence. I can’t be gun-shy and I have to be able to go out and throw my body around.”
Still, the ordeal has been tough for Bills, like it has been for the two dozen others who are nicked, down or out.
“It’s been really, really hard, I’m not going to lie," he said. "It’s been the most difficult thing in my career, a test and a trial for me to keep my head and keep pushing and trying. It’s been tough, not what I expected to happen, but I’m growing from it.”
Bills, in typical philosopher fashion, said it all comes down to learning something valuable in life.
“That’s the thing about football that teaches you about life," he said. "You just have to adjust, you have to face new situations and challenges. You can’t dwell on them because that doesn’t do anything for you. That’s what we’ve learned, just adjusting and having young guys come up and make plays.”
Bills is part of a BYU football family that is remarkable if you look close at the bloodline. He is the youngest sibling in the Bills family to play for BYU. His oldest brother K.C. was a high school All-American in Colorado before coming to BYU, where back injuries ended his career. A second brother, Kelly, stepped in, and concussions cut short his running back experience. A third brother, Kevan, ended his Cougar career with knee injuries. His brother-in-law is Taysom Hill, as is former star David Nixon. Two other brothers-in-law played for the Cougars, linebacker Neal Daley and lineman Larry Harmer.
You can imagine Thanksgiving dinner at the Bills house.
The best advice he ever got from his oldest brother K.C.?
“Just enjoy it. When it’s done, it’s done. Look back with good memories and have no regrets. I need to do what’s best for me and not get caught up in too much stress and anxiety about the game.
“My brothers have all had great high school careers and come here and were injured. That’s been the hardest thing for me. I’ve been out when obviously I didn’t want to be out, but I can look up to them and see their examples and how they’ve handled adversities and learn an important perspective about life.”
While the Cougars have earned six wins when many expected them to have 10 at this point in the season, Bills said he sees progress and is proud to be with teammates who have worked hard. And through it all they are having fun again.
Bills has been a Cougar since 2009. When asked what he’d like people to think of him when he’s gone, he kept it simple.
“I’d love my legacy to be that I played hard, I loved the game, I was a physical player and made plays.”
With Bills, that definitely will be the legacy that sticks.
Dick Harmon, Deseret News sports columnist, can be found on Twitter as Harmonwrites and can be contacted at dharmon@desnews.com.