Rams News

Hill takes on former team

08/27/98

By Jim Thomas
Of the Post-Dispatch Staff

Minutes after his first practice as a St. Louis Ram, a sweaty Greg Hill walked back to the locker room at Western Illinois University. A fan stuck out a football card for him to autograph -- one with Hill wearing the red, gold and white of the Kansas City Chiefs.
``I don't like this red,'' Hill teased the fan. ``You know what? I'm going to write Rams here.''
And so he did -- Greg Hill, Rams.
Hill will be starting in the backfield tonight in the annual Governor's Cup preseason game at Arrowhead Stadium, like he did all of last season. Only this time, Marcus Allen's heir apparent will be toting the football for the Rams, and not the Chiefs.
After four seasons, Hill and Kansas City parted ways in the offseason. Hill, a first-round draft pick by KC in 1994, was an unrestricted free agent at the end of last season. The Chiefs showed little interest in re-signing him.
``It wasn't like they said, `We're just not going to sign you,' '' Hill said. ``They had a talk with me and asked me if I felt comfortable in Kansas City. To be truthful, I didn't really feel comfortable. So Marty (Schottenheimer) told me he'd understand if I didn't want to come back, and that he was going to give me an opportunity to go somewhere else.''
Hill and Schottenheimer knew it was time to move on.
Or as Rams coach Dick Vermeil put it: ``Husbands and wives get divorced after 20 years. Here's a football player and a coaching staff divorcing after four.''
Entering the '97 season, it looked like Hill and the Chiefs would live happily ever after.
In 1996, Hill scored three touchdowns against Green Bay. He outrushed Barry Sanders 103 yards to 77 in a Thanksgiving Day game. He finished the season with 645 yards rushing. His 4.8-yard average was the third-highest total in the league.
The 1997 season was supposed to be Hill's breakthrough year. Schottenheimer named him the starter. ``Then you praise the guy and pump the guy for having the best training camp out of everybody,'' Hill said.
Hill started all 16 games. But his role remained unchanged. He split time with Allen. By the fourth game, Hill said, ``I was told that Marcus needed to carry the ball more. OK. I'm a team player.
``But I kind of felt like, `I know that's Marcus Allen, and he's a Hall of Famer. You've got to give him carries because he's earned the right to have them. But I'm a young guy. Keep giving it to me, see how much better I can get.' ''
Over the final nine games, Hill carried more than 10 times only once. As in prior seasons, Allen invariably came in when the Chiefs got close to the end zone.
``To me, scoring a touchdown is a reward for the work that you helped do on the field,'' Hill said. ``It's not about being the man, or being the superstar on the team. It's a little sugar. And I just felt like I never got any sugar sprinkled on me.''
During their four seasons in the Kansas City backfield, Allen scored 32 rushing touchdowns; Hill had six. Of course, most observers would say Allen was the more instinctive runner, that Hill wasn't as good at seeing holes.
In any event, Hill never complained, something that Schottenheimer appreciates to this day.
``Greg Hill did a great job a year ago, managing a very difficult situation for him,'' Schottenheimer said.
But after deciding on Donnell Bennett as his starting running back for this season, Schottenheimer said, ``I'm not sure how he would have responded being behind Donnell Bennett.''

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