How BYU football players first reacted, then responded, to defensive coach Jay Hill’s sobering heart attack

When BYU’s Jakob Robinson rolls his ankle in practice this week, he won’t be able to wallow in self-pity as easily as he once did.

Defensive coordinator Jay Hill’s toughness — returning to a football game two days after suffering a heart attack — taught him that, the senior cornerback said Saturday night after BYU dumped Southern Illinois 41-13 in front of a sellout crowd of 63,712 at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

Hill had a stent placed in an artery that was 60% blocked on Saturday morning, that after having a stent installed for a 100% blocked artery on Thursday night. But somehow the second-year DC managed to make it to the 6 p.m. kickoff.

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Hill mingled with players and coaches on the field before the game, then watched it from the press box with a headset on and occasionally offered his two cents as head coach Kalani Sitake became the primary defensive play-caller.

After the game, BYU players marveled at Hill’s toughness.

“The thing is, he will talk about us being tough, and then he will be tough. Now I can’t really say anything when he tells me to get up after I roll my ankle,” Robinson said.

“Like, he just had a heart attack and now he is back here. Yeah, it just speaks (volumes) about our coach.”

Robinson said it was “heartbreaking for us” when Hill spoke to them via FaceTime on Friday night from his hospital bed.

“You could tell he was really sad and wanted to be there with us,” Robinson said. “We were super happy to have him back and it made my day to have him back.”

The Orem product said that Hill asked players to not announce it on social media until “maybe after the game” because he didn’t want the focus to be on him.

Hill’s father, Ferrell Hill, told the Deseret News on Saturday morning that his 49-year-old son is “as fit as a fiddle” and that it was a shocker to everyone who knows him well.

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That was defensive lineman John Nelson’s sentiment as well. How could a coach who can hold his own in the weight room with guys half his age be afflicted with heart issues?

“Yeah, we came in and got the news yesterday. We were all kind of really shocked and surprised. He is super active and always involved in all we do,” Nelson said. “So to get that news of him going through that was devastating to say the least. A lot of guys, offense and defense, rallied around the idea that he pours his heart and soul into this program and believes in us, so we play our hearts out for him.

“He wanted us to not play the game any different, or anything crazy. Just go out and play and do your thing. It was good to have that. I reminded the boys while we were playing that we had a special circumstance that was going on,” Nelson continued. “It was a little bit of a setback, but I was proud of the boys, how we got through it.”

Sitake said he got a call from Hill’s wife, Sara, on Thursday night and she calmly told him that Hill had had a heart attack.

“That was hard for me to hear,” Sitake said. “All I cared about was, ‘Is he OK? Is my friend OK?’”

Turns out, Hill already had a defensive coaches meeting planned for Friday morning, although he wasn’t planning to be there because his son, Jacob, was running in a race and he didn’t want to miss it.

“It was a huge scare. I am glad they were able to get him on the right path and take care of him to recovery, but he didn’t really care about that,” Sitake said. “He was all about the game. When I was like, ‘Hey Jay, just take care of yourself,’ he was like, ‘No, we are going to be fine.’”

Sitake said Hill didn’t want the attention, and still doesn’t.

“But people love him,” Sitake said. “How can you not when he is such a good person? So, on behalf of him, I want to tell everyone ‘thank you’ for caring about him and praying for him. It worked, and he’s doing great right now.”

Regarding Hill being on the headset Saturday night, it was a group effort calling the plays and linebackers coach Justin Ena contributed as well.

“I think when (SIU) made plays, somebody else called it,” Sitake joked. “If I called it (all), we would have had a shutout.”