Dierre Hill Jr. is heading into Year 2 with Oregon, and the Ducks are no longer treating him like just a fast guy who takes handoffs and outruns angles.
That was the message coming out of fall camp from Dan Lanning and his staff: more is coming for the sophomore, and the reason is simple - Hill has taken a real step forward. Oregon sees a bigger role because Hill’s game has expanded, physically and mentally, since last season.
Offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer said last week that the staff has spent the offseason trying to unlock what Hill can do.
"Anytime you get a guy who's a dynamic player, you want to find ways to use him," offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer said last week. "Going back a year ago to this point, we really didn't even know at that time what Dierre was going to do. Dierre kind of came on midway through the offseason, and you see this burst down the field and it's like, 'Hey, we've got to do something with this guy.'"
Last season, Hill’s workload was heavily tilted toward off-tackle runs. According to PFF data, 43 of his 74 carries came there, and that’s where most of his production showed up too: four of his five touchdowns and 488 of his 655 rushing yards. This year, Oregon wants to do more with him between the tackles, with the goal of getting him running through the A-gap more often.
The Ducks also expect to use him in more ways as a pass catcher. Hill finished last season with 16 receptions in 15 games, but that number could rise sharply after the work the staff has put in this fall, including plenty of talk about cross-training him at wide receiver.
He’s also developed enough as a pass protector that Oregon believes it can trust him more on passing downs. A year ago, only six of his 195 snaps came as a pass blocker.
Ra'Shaad Samples was blunt about how much Hill has grown.
"Dierre has grown. His growth in the totality of the game is crazy," Samples said.
"Dierre is elite all over the field. He's a Swiss Army knife, and I think his game has grown as a receiver."
Samples said Hill was capable as a receiver last season, but not yet polished. Coming out of high school, he didn’t have a deep route tree, and last year was essentially a crash course in route running.
"He had to continue to learn how to run routes," Samples explained. "Now, he's a leader out there.
He can help get other guys lined up. He can help get other receivers lined up.
In 21 personnel and in different formations, he can help get other guys lined up. He's a guy you can use in a bunch of different ways."
The speed has always been the headline. Hill led all FBS running backs in rushing efficiency with an 8.75 yards-per-carry average, and that kind of burst in space already gave defenses problems. Oregon believes putting him in even more open space could make him even tougher to handle.
"If you've got a guy who can get out in space and run and score and things like that, let's find ways to go do that and help him help us," Mehringer quipped.
What that looks like in September is still to come, but the expectation is clear: Hill won’t be limited to the backfield. Oregon wants him moving around, creating mismatches, and forcing defenses to account for him in more places.
Samples thinks the jump has been dramatic, especially when it comes to Hill’s understanding of the game and his work as a blocker.
"I think you're going to see an unrecognizable player when it comes to his growth from last year to this year," Samples said. "I was just with him late last night, and he was drawing up coverages, drawing up fronts, drawing up blitzes. His understanding of the game sometimes is really unbelievable from leaving last season to showing up this spring and then showing up again this fall."
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