Just about a year ago, Rodney Hill was helping turn the Florida State football program into the one of the nation’s feel-good stories.
In a tone-setting win over No. 5 LSU, the 5-foot-10 dynamo scampered for 29 yards on 5 carries. Two weeks later, he notched a season-high 42 yards on, again, only 5 carries to help the Seminoles squeak by Boston College 31-29. That was the third straight win on the way to Florida State to starting 13-0 in 2023.
As the Seminoles’ third back, Hill was a good dual-threat option with a lot of promise to improve after his sophomore season. Nonetheless, his time in Tallahassee came to an untimely end last winter. The Georgia native became one of 22 outgoing FSU football players to leave the program via the transfer portal.
In turn, the portal brought to Florida State 17 shiny new talents, including five from the Alabama Crimson Tide in the wake of Nick Saban’s retirement.
Much was expected of these FSU transfers coming into a season in which the Seminoles were supposed to atone for the 63-3 massacre they suffered in the Orange Bowl.
Little has been delivered.
FSU Football Teetering on Laughingstock Status
The No. 10 Seminoles are 0-2 and teetering on the brink of Laughingstock of the Nation status after losing at home by 15 points to Boston College on Monday night. The shiniest of their imports, quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, was just 21 for 42 passing with one touchdown and an interception. It got so bad that the home crowd let loose with chants of “We want Brock” for backup quarterback Brock Glenn to take the field.
It’s to the point where there’s a three-way race to the bottom among most of the state of Florida’s high-major quarterbacks given the struggles of Uiagalelei, Graham Mertz at Florida and former Razorback KJ Jefferson at UCF.
Meanwhile, the Florida State running game vs Boston College was abysmal, finishing with a total of 21 yards on 16 carries. One of those former Crimson Tide blue-chippers, tailback Roydell Williams, chipped in all of 10 yards on 3 carries.
“Sick to how this season started,” Florida State coach Mike Norvell said afterward. “I failed in preparing the team to be able to go out and respond tonight.”
He later added: “Who I believe we are didn’t show up tonight. That’s on me.”
There’s something else on you, Mike.
That would be essentially pushing Rodney Hill out of the door when the young man’s former agent screwed him over.
Mike Norvell and Rodney Hill
Hill’s unlikely path from the Florida State to Arkansas football program came into full light in fall camp when he explained how things went sideways after he allowed his parents to help keep track of his NIL money.
“My parents got a bad agent and he was texting other schools like he was me, so when that got back to the head coach [Mike Novell], I had to leave Florida State,” Hill said. We can presume that the agent was seeking more money while impersonating Hill.
Obviously, this was a hard lesson for Hill and his parents to learn. They put trust in someone who ended up burning them.
But it’s possible Rodney Hill was a victim of even more circumstances outside of his control. Norvell, a UCA graduate and former candidate for the Arkansas football head coach, might have been quick to cut ties with him because his program was on the brink of receiving the first NIL sanctions issued by the NCAA.
Or maybe Norvell thought that Hill wasn’t going to contribute like he wanted and perhaps could get better talent in the transfer portal. Whatever the case, Rodney made it clear he wasn’t the one looking to bail: “During that time when I had to leave, I wasn’t trying to leave, I didn’t want to leave, so I just had to and the portal was closing up.”
Given the mess that Norvell has on his hands now, he may wish he’d shown more leniency toward a proven back that could have helped bring continuity to his system.
Instead, Mike Norvell just keeps doubling down on his transfer portal-heavy approach, to the point where it now looks like it’s burning him.
“Norvell took over at a time when the Seminoles were in the dumps,” On3’s Ari Wasserman writes. “It’s understandable that he had to turn to the portal to flip the roster. But four seasons into his tenure at Florida State, shouldn’t the script have flipped into dominating high school football recruiting?”
Wasserman points out that Norvell puts transfers at the core of his roster-building approach instead of hand-picked talent chosen from the high school ranks (like Hill.). It’s damning that Norvell hasn’t yet signed a top-10 class under his leadership.
Arkansas Football Benefits from FSU Recruiting Issues?
That lack of an ability to close on high school blue-chippers absolutely played into Arkansas’ favor when Tavion Wallace, a potential 5-star linebacker recruit in the class of 2025, committed to the Hogs over the summer despite a 100% crystal ball prediction to Florida State.
Rodney Hill eventually found his way to Arkansas after a stop at Florida A&M and scored a touchdown in the Razorbacks’ season opener vs UAPB. Expect him to contribute as a threat catching balls out of the backfield against Oklahoma State on Saturday, as he’s now listed as Arkansas’ second-string running back.
“I really like Rodney Hill as our (No. 2) running back, right now,” Arkansas football coach Sam Pittman told reporters when asked about Rashod Dubinion’s position on the depth chart.
Meanwhile, Florida State football fans seem to wish the best for Hill, recognizing what they lost.
“I do hope that at Arkansas he crushes it,” said Richie Barnes, co-host of the FSU Football: Double Fries No Slaw podcast. “I hope he’s their best player. They’re not going to be very good this year.”
A little later on the early August podcast episode, Barnes praises Hill as “very talented” and then gives a couple more pumps to a verbal Super Soaker brimming with Haterade. First: “He’s a kid that is going to be really good for somebody one day.”
Then, Barnes presses the trigger: “Just hope that that Arkansas stench doesn’t kill him because Arkansas is going to be terrible this year.”
Well, ain’t that rich. These days, it seems, there’s no place in the college football world emitting a stronger stench than Tallahassee, Fla.
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Whether or not Rodney Hill ends up being a major contributor for the Razorbacks remains to be seen. There is even some skepticism amongst Arkansas media, as Trey Biddy brought him up during the HawgSports Live episode previewing the Arkansas vs Oklahoma State game:
“I’m not a hundred percent sold on Hill yet,” Biddy said. “I think he can break off some big runs and stuff, but I want to see a little bit more from him. But Pittman really likes him, obviously, and Kolby Smith apparently likes him. I wonder a little bit about him, because I’ve seen him in drills like pass protection. Is he going to be able to stand up to some guys coming after him and be able to protect Taylen Green? So that’s kind of the stuff I wonder about. But as far as hitting it and going, yeah, I can see Hill having an impact that way, but I wonder a little bit about past protection. About 185 pounds, not the biggest back.”
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More from Barnes on Hill and Arkansas starting at 9:00 here:
More on FSU and Arkansas football from BoAS:
