St. Francis (Pa.) DB Blye Hill signs with Nebraska
Looking to add to its defensive backs group for the 2024 season, Nebraska dipped into the FCS ranks to snag Blye Hill from the transfer portal.
Hill signed with Nebraska bright and early on Wednesday morning, the first day of the early signing period.
Hill spent his true freshman season in 2023 at St. Francis University, a program located in Loretto, Pennsylvania. The lengthy 6-foot-3, 165-pounder, who played his high school ball at Mount Saint Joseph in Baltimore, appeared in nine games for St. Francis and led the defense with six pass breakups and two interceptions to go along with 21 tackles.
Hill took an official visit to Lincoln Dec. 15-16 and has three seasons of eligibility remaining.
Nebraska needs to replace starting corner Quinton Newsome, who exhausted his eligibility and has since declared for the 2024 NFL Draft. As of this writing, the Huskers are set to return experienced cornerbacks in Tommi Hill and Malcolm Hartzog.
Hill enjoyed success under first-year DBs coach Evan Cooper in 2023. An uber-athletic Orlando native who earned honorable-mention All-Big Ten honors, Hill started seven games at corner and recorded career highs in tackles (26), pass breakups (9) and interceptions (4).
Hartzog showed versatility in 2023, starting seven games at corner and three at safety in coordinator Tony White’s 3-3-5 scheme. Hartzog also had a career year with 40 tackles and six pass breakups.
The Huskers have young and untested talent at corner behind Hill and Hartzog. Tamon Lynum, one of the top experienced backups in 2023, entered the transfer portal and landed at Pittsburgh.
Hill will now enter the mix with other second-year corners Dwight Bootle II, Ethan Nation and Syncere Safeeullah. Bootle and Safeeullah both redshirted in 2023 while Nation played in seven games. Bootle appeared to be on his way to burning his redshirt as well until he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury against Northern Illinois.
Two freshmen from 2023 who entered the program as receivers but switched to defensive back midway through the season, Jeremiah Charles and Brice Turner, will also provide depth, or move back to offense.
Hill joins other new scholarship newcomers in the DB room, all of which are freshmen in the 2024 class: three-stars Caleb Benning (Omaha, Neb.), Mario Buford (Desoto, Texas), Rex Guthrie (Littleton, Colo.), Donovan Jones (Omaha, Neb.) and Evan Taylor (Waxhaw, N.C.).
Two other recruits listed as athletes, Roger Gradney (Altair, Texas) and Braylen Prude (Pearland, Texas), project as defensive backs to start, too.