Taysom Hill’s blow-up performance on Pro Day shouldn’t go to waste.
The tale of his resilience over injuries, including the latest, if for nothing else, just adds to his legend as a guy with elite athleticism and determination.
Dave Stroshine, owner of STROformance in Orem, met Hill shortly after Hill had tricep surgery following his injury at the end of the Utah State game. The two discussed a training program. Hill wanted to rehab, get healthy and shoot for some kind of Pro Day to show NFL scouts what he could do.
Explained Stroshine, “I said, let’s work around and understand your limitations.” The plan was to just focus on the 40-yard dash and vertical jump, work on his legs and speed. They met with BYU’s athletic rehabilitation coordinator Brett Mortensen to clear what kind of exercises and drills Hill could do to protect his surgically repaired arm.
Taysom signs with Green Bay Packers
From the second Hill entered Stroshine’s workout facility, Stroshine got the idea that this kind of cave was Hill’s domain, a place where he ruled. He’d heard stories from BYU athletes about Hill’s work ethic, his strength, his drive. He saw it firsthand on Day One.
“Taysom is just a different beast. He is mentally at another level. As we started to do some of the workouts. He’d always be wanting more. I had to tell him we needed to watch how it progresses so we don’t overdo it and don’t recover properly and get the maximum benefit.
“But he is just wired to go, go, go and push himself. Mentally, he’s as strong as any athlete I’ve worked with.”
Three weeks before BYU’s Pro Day, Stroshine told Hill’s agent, Mark Flores of Pillar Sports, that Hill should run a sub 4.5 and that he’d jump 38-inches plus. Flores was impressed.
“Then Taysom starts throwing a little bit, as per doctor and PT instructions,” said Stroshine. “A week later he said his arm just felt great. His agent asked if he wanted to do everything on Pro Day but lift.
“Now, Taysom is a perfectionist. He just doesn’t want to be good, but be the best at what he does. So the three of us had a meeting two and a half weeks from Pro Day and it was decided we’d go to the indoor practice facility and see where he was with some drills. If Hill didn’t feel comfortable with anything, he’d scratch that event.
“We go to the practice facility and get him on the shuttle and three cone. He hasn’t practiced it yet, but his times were just as fast as any quarterback in the NFL Combine back in February,” said Stroshine.
Flores began checking the boxes as to what Hill would do when scouts were present.
“He’s good enough. But in Taysom’s mind he wanted to practice at it. He is just an exceptional young man. You tell him he can’t do something and he’ll tell you he will; will prove you wrong. You have to love working with an athlete like that.”
Come Pro Day, Hill had a tight quad issue. “We told him to warm up and see how it felt after he jumped. Sure enough, he hit 38.5 inches in the vertical, had a 10.2 broad jump and said, ‘Man, I’m feeling great.’ We said, 'Let’s see how you feel after this first 40.' He runs a 4.44. He tells us, ‘I’m feeling great.’ Runs it again at 4.44. Then runs a shuttle and three cone, no issues.”
To put that in perspective, Stanford’s running back Christian McCaffrey, one of the best athletes in the 2017 draft, was taken No. 8 overall by the Carolina Panthers. His NFL Combine 40 time was 4.48, his broad jump 10.1, vertical 37.5 and he weighed 10 pounds less than Hill.
Stroshine debunked last year’s popular theory that Hill is a step slower during this past 2016 season after his LisFranc injury of 2015. For Stroshine, Hill’s inability to train on that foot for most of the 2016 offseason may have had an impact, but the speed issue was something else in-season.
Stroshine asked Hill at what weight he moved his best, felt most comfortable. Hill told him 225. Thing is, Hill played his senior year at 235. They decided to drop his weight in pre-Pro Day training by 10 pounds to 222 or 223. It showed in his 40 time, which is faster than Hall of Famer Steve Young.
“What I base my training on is relative strength and how it translates to speed, power and overall explosiveness. So, that was our goal, 222, and we hit it. At 6 percent body fat, he was just a shredded specimen.”
Hill ran and threw without his shirt on at Pro Day. Stroshine saw former San Diego Charger and SUU quarterback Brad Sorensen standing nearby in BYU’s indoor practice facility. “Brad,” asked Stroshine, “How many NFL quarterbacks look like that?”
Sorensen: “None.”
“That’s a tribute to who he is,” said Stroshine. “He’s like, ‘Whatever it takes for me to make a team, I’m a teammate and a leader and a player at the next level.’ That was fun for me to see how he responded.
“That was the first time I had been around him in that atmosphere. To see his confidence, to see how his receivers reacted to him, he had total control, and that was cool for me to see.
“Afterwards, the biggest tell of everything, according to his agent and other guys I talked to, there was no mention at all of his injuries. It was all about how he threw, ran and he surprised everyone how fast he was. And he did that all with a smile on his face. I can’t say enough about Taysom.”
That 4.4 Pro Day time is the only true timed 40 Stroshine watched Hill run throughout his training. He could predict his sub 4.5 through his process, although he worked more on Hill’s form, breaking down his start and stride.
Stroshine uses lasers to measure the first 10 and 20 yards to get a handle on acceleration stage strengths and weaknesses. He then uses a flying 20 laser to capture an athlete’s form at full speed. He combines those times to project a 40 time. In Hill’s case, he ran a 2.54 his first 20. Hill’s flying 20 was 1.9. When combined, Hill was projected to run a sub 4.5, somewhere in the high 4.4s. “He ran better than projected,” said Stroshine.
As a side story, Stroshine has been working out BYU receiver Jonah Trinnaman and believes he is capable of breaking the NFL Combine 40 record of 4.22 seconds.
“BYU has a special one in Trinnaman,” said Stroshine. “He may also break the vertical mark. I have his splits at a combined 4.19 and he is a 45-inch vertical guy right now.”
Most all of Stroshine’s clients, Hill included, run faster 40s than their combined splits in his workout lab.
Stroshine said Trinnaman's first 20 yards is 2.34 and his flying 20 is 1.85. “I had to check my lasers to see if they were calibrated right. Those are phenomenal numbers.”
For Hill, Stroshine said the impressive thing other than his drive, his confidence and his work ethic and strength is the fact he was limited in his pre-Pro Day training. “Anything we did, we had to be careful because coming back with velocity on his arm could reinjure it, so we were cautious. Still, he squatted over 500 pounds and for a guy 225 pounds, that is unbelievable. He is so flipping strong.
“He trusted me and he trusted the process and stuck to the nutrition plan. I can’t say enough superlatives about him as an athlete and person.”
So the NFL draft took place this weekend. The guys that are not drafted have chances in the free agent lane as signings take place in the next week.
Where will Hill end up? Will his football dreams live to see another day? The Green Bay Packers flew Hill out a few weeks ago for a workout. Reports Saturday said the Packers signed Hill to a free agent contract. He'll join backfield mate Jamaal Williams in Green Bay.
Regardless, Hill’s journey, his story, his recoveries are tales for the ages. He is no ordinary man.