Top 10 interior offensive linemen in the 2021 NFL Draft

#10 2021 NFL Draft Prospect: Trey Hill (Georgia)

6’ 3”, 330 pounds; JR

The number three guard recruit back in 2018, Trey Hill saw action in all 14 games as a freshman and started the final four at right guard, while jumping in for basically another full contest at center, with the original starter getting hurt early on.

In the last two years, he started all 22 games and played at a level worthy of all-conference accolades, if not for guys like Lloyd Cushenberry and Landon Dickerson taking the spotlight off him.

Hill has a lot of girth across all body segments, including massive thighs and a bubble-butt, which contain a lot of power, but also some surprising suddenness off the snap. He initiates with low pad-level and creates momentum with powerful strides. Hill really covers up bodies in the zone run game and keeps those feet moving until the whistle blows.

He makes sure his guards have their blocks secured and places that help-hand on the down-lineman before working up to the second level. If your guard seals the backside three-technique and you have Hill plus the other guard combo-ing on the shade nose, they might just open up a motorway in that backside A-gap.

The Georgia center has that ability to torque defenders’ pads, to move them to the play-side and create a hole up the middle or get them in position, to bring his hips in front of them on more wide zone blocking, as well as putting smaller defenders underneath himself, to land on top of them, whilst on the move.

When there’s nobody in the playside A-gap and no backer to work up to directly, Hill is looking to peel back on scraping defenders, to limit the pursuit. The Bulldogs asked him to pull out in front as a lead-blocker at times and he lands on top of some of these isolated defenders.

In the pass game, Hill is quick to land his hands inside the frame of rushers lined up over him and limits their charge instantly. Those clamps stay in there tight and don’t come off usually, while at times he just drives away interior rushers out of the way, when they try too hard to get around him, plus he shows the ability to re-anchor routinely.

The UGA center really snaps his head and kicks back with that near-foot, to gain width and depth on slide-protections, while his eyes stay busy. And he at times gets in this sideway shuffle, where he tries to stay behind the closest rusher, in case he slants/works his way, where his hands are ready to shoot and neutralize the target. Hill does a nice job of getting underneath defenders who slant across his face and riding them off track.

Hill's success rate is pretty high against linebackers with a two-way go, as he squares up and puts that big frame in front of them, with the ability to take the steam out of blitzers, who try to come in hot, and doesn’t let them get away usually. Being very patient in that regard and not overreacting to them giving him a wiggle is key here. He recognizes interior twists and takes on the secondary man with his wide chest and a firm base.

Unfortunately, there is certainly some wasted movement getting out of his stance at times for and Hill seems much more comfortable opening up his hips to the right at wider angles, as he snaps the ball, for it not to be in the way. His pads tend to rise and knee flexion disappears as plays go along in general.

Hill lacks great lateral agility and the soft feet to match those quick interior rushers, while not being the most fluid mover overall, plus he dips his head too much when initiating contact. He is a bit of a phonebooth guy altogether, who would probably benefit from a move to guard for most teams, as he may not be able to execute those difficult reach-blocks on A-gap defenders consistently at the next level, especially to his left, where that little bit of depth advantage guards have would help. His limited mobility outside the tackles is apparent on screen passes out on the perimeter.

As much hype as their tackles coming out last year and right guard Ben Cleveland have been getting these last couple of years, Hill’s consistency in the middle has not gone unnoticed by me. I like the pad-level and power, to create movement in the run game, he has a phenomenal anchor and squares up targets in pass-pro that he presents.

He may not quite have the athletic upside of some of these other guys in the class, but he was a very high recruit for a reason and he just gets the job done, presenting flexibility across the three interior spots, depending on the scheme to some degree.