Salisbury addresses alleged Kenny Hill mentorship — and then some
COLLEGE STATION – Ken Hill has turned to a sports radio talk show host to deal with his son’s apparently not-so-private life.
Former NFL quarterback turned full-time talker Sean Salisbury, now based out of Houston, said on the radio on Wednesday that Hill, a former big-league pitcher, has hired him as a quarterbacks coach and mentor to now backup Texas A&M quarterback Kenny Hill, who started the Aggies’ first eight games before losing his job to freshman Kyle Allen.
A&M also announced just prior to last Saturday’s kickoff against Louisiana-Monroe that Hill had been suspended for two games for a violation of team rules and athletic department policy. Meaning he’ll also miss Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. game at Auburn, before he’s scheduled to return prior to the Nov. 15 Missouri game.
In eight games this season, Kenny Hill has passed for 2,649 yards and 23 touchdowns. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
A&M offensive coordinator Jake Spavital said this week Hill is still taking part in practices and team meetings while serving out the suspensions. Hill’s father, a former Texas Rangers pitcher, had hired Rangers chaplain and former pro baseball player and NFL quarterback Richard Bartel as a mentor following Kenny Hill’s first suspension last spring following his arrest on charges of public intoxication.
Meanwhile Salisbury went very public on Wednesday with his thoughts on Kenny Hill on Wednesday evening on Yahoo! Sports Radio. The transcript below is courtesy of the Dallas Morning News. And Salisbury, who’s fought his own demons in life, outlined his plan for Hill, and I’ll be curious to hear the A&M coaching staff’s reaction to some of these ideas:
“Teach him how to approach the off-the-field stuff better. And to work with him on the field. Fix his mechanics, get him going. This is a critical point for him. I spent time talking to the family last night, hopefully we’ll start this weekend. If not we’ll start early next week and carry it into the off-season and work his butt off, get rid of the ‘Trill’ thoughts and all those things, it’s not time for that. Focusing on football, get back to the same things that won him the job, be a good team player, get yourself focused off the field. Things that I can draw from because I’ve been there.
“He’s too talented to be floundering. …They talked to me and it’s been decided. Kenny and I will be spending a lot of time together. And we’ll also look at some film. Jake knows now.
“I’m excited because I think the kid has enormous talent. …We don’t have to make wholesale changes with him. But some things that will help him get better at a critical time in his career, critical time in his life, critical time at Texas A&M.
“But it’s not over. I was very frank with his father, his dad was a Major League baseball pitcher. Smart kid in the classroom. Just some things, understanding exactly how people look at you – and it’s unfortunate because that position is looked at different off the field and on. You may want to go have three beers in a bar. Unfortunately three beers to you looks like eight beers to somebody else and they can’t wait to tell people.
“He’s a really good kid. I believe he’s excited, I know the family is and I know I am.
“It’s a critical, critical point in his career not only to win the respect of his coaches back and trust. They respect him, Trust…and get back to trusting himself again that he can make these plays because he’s quite capable of it.
“He went through a three-game stretch where he got the hell kicked out of him by three damn good teams. …Let’s keep this also in perspective, if you’re a quarterback on that team, you think you have to make every play because they can’t stop anybody, that’s number one.
“Number two, 11 dropped balls in a game, isn’t very good. Number three, they’re young, they gotta protect and get a little more stout and physical, and Jake knows this. You gotta protect the guy and give them the best chance to succeed. They don’t want to play conservative, they want to spread it out and get rolling.
“Kyle Allen now has a chance to go play at Auburn and Kenny Hill has to get the trust back and go win it. My job is to help him get better off the field and maximize on the field as well, and I will definitely do that.
“I’m not going to put in Stanford’s offense while training Kenny Hill for Texas A&M. Footwork, mechanics, don’t change anywhere. …Hell, I want Texas A&M to win. I want Kenny Hill to succeed, I want A&M to succeed. He’s a young man that got off the beaten path a little bit needs to get back on it.”
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