Kasim Hill would've been riding the bench this weekend had he signed with Michigan or Penn State in February. Instead, he decided to play college football at Maryland, and started his career with a 51-41 win over Texas.
Hill was a four-star 2017 recruit from St. John's College High School in Washington, D.C., when he signed with Maryland. He committed to the Terps a year earlier and remained firm, rejecting offers from big-time Power Five programs — ones that have averaged more than 4.8 wins over the last six years.
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He was 247Sports' 10th-ranked pro-style quarterback (but don't let that tag fool you; Hill is a pro-style quarterback who can run very well) and 233rd-ranked overall player in the class. The players ranked above and behind him signed with Clemson, Florida State, Oklahoma and other title-contending programs. Hill could've done the same by accepting an offer from Penn State or Michigan. He passed and signed with the Terps.
The 6-foot-2, 232-pounder lost the starting quarterback battle but was pressed into duty late in the third quarter against Texas when sophomore Tyrrell Pigrome was injured.
KASIM. HILL. ONIONS.#FearTheTurtle pic.twitter.com/LJCqsQpkih
— Maryland Football (@TerpsFootball) September 2, 2017
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"He doesn’t look like a freshman to me," head coach D.J. Durkin said after seven practices. "He’s very mature with how he approaches meetings and really everything he does.”
And he didn't look like a freshman on Saturday, leading a fourth-quarter touchdown drive to extend the Terps' lead while doing enough the rest of the way to give Maryland one of the biggest wins in program history.
