Hawgs still lead for Hillis

Peyton Hillis was a one man wrecking machine for his Conway, Ark., team all season long. But the Hillis Wrecking Company wasn’t enough to help his team win a state playoff game this past Friday night against West Memphis.

“We were down by 14 points in the fourth quarter,” Hillis, who is 6-foot-2 and 245 pounds, said. “We made a huge comeback and I scored the game winning two-point conversion.”

But…

“But they didn’t count it,” he said. “I know that I was in and I scored. I got my feet down inbounds, but the referee waved it off. I still can’t believe it. I’m in shock. I can’t believe our season ended that way. It’s a bitter way to end a great season.”

And it’s also a bitter way to end a great high school career. But the good news is that Hillis will have plenty of opportunities to excel on the next level, because he’s one of the nation’s most highly sought after fullbacks.

“I can now turn my attention toward recruiting,” Hillis, a four-star prospect according to Rivals.com, said. “It’s going to be really on my mind now.”

Hillis at this point still only has one visit lined up. He’s going to visit Oklahoma on December 12. Arkansas, Florida, Tennessee and Nebraska were also expected to get visits, but things could be up in the air now with the Huskers.

“If they change their offense and bring in a guy that passes the ball more, that might not really be my style,” Hillis said. “If they keep the offense that everybody’s used to and have the same type of schemes, then I’ll probably still visit. I guess we’ll just have to see what happens.”

It might not matter, though, because all of the teams are chasing Arkansas, who is his slight leader.

“I grew up an Arkansas fan, and I have a very good relationship with both Houston and Denny Nutt,” Hillis said. “But I made a promise to myself that I’m going to take these visits and see what’s out there at each of the schools. They all have positives that I can see and I know I could find the right fit at each and every one of them.”