Not sure where you guys are getting information on Hill, but last week was BYU's media day. There are plenty of interviews out there with Hill, Bronco and the staff.
Hill suffered a tib/fib break. He was tackled awkwardly from the side and was dragged down. The defender (coincidentally, same player who injured his knee his freshman year) fell on the leg and it broke at the bottom of the knee brace he wore. Many claim if he hadn't been wearing the brace he wouldn't have broken his leg. BTW, he walked off the field with that broken leg. He had surgery immediately after. If anyone is familiar with the procedure for this, he was off his leg for 8 weeks, then walking boot and screw removal back in February. He participated in every part of spring ball except full team live drills as a precaution (notably without the knee brace he wore previously). He said then, if he had a game this Saturday he was good to go. Officially he's been cleared 100% for 6 weeks and has been one of the leaders and top performers this summer according to the S&C coach.
Now will he be the same runner? We'll see. But this injury wasn't as bad as the knee injury he suffered his freshman year and he had a hell of a sophomore year. Also, the coaches have said all off-season that they will be limiting designed run calls to try and protect him. But he's most dangerous when the play breaks down and he scrambles. Coaches want him to slide, get out of bounds and throw the ball away but Taysom has said repeatedly he's going to be himself and at the end of the day he'll do whatever it takes to win.
BYU's season depends on his health. There is little depth behind him. McCoy Hill (no relation) took first team reps until he was hurt in the spring. Christian Stewart, senior backup QB last year, came and threw for the team because they literally had nobody else. Taysom's backup this fall will be Tanner Mangum. He was Elite 11 co-MVP with Jameis Winston. He grayshirted, then went on his mission returning a few weeks ago. He's the heir apparent and projected next great BYU QB. He's already in Provo working out. But behind him are incoming freshmen QBs Beau Hoge (son of Merril) and Koy Detmer Jr. (Yes, son of Koy and nephew of Ty). They will battle it out for 3rd string with McCoy I imagine and will likely redshirt.
One other nugget I'll throw out there for the Nebraska game. I know many of you are expecting several suspensions for the game related to the Miami Beach brawl/bowl. Bronco said last week that there isn't a player that can'e work himself out of a suspension between now and the opener. So there is a chance there won't be any suspensions at all. Slim, IMHO, but still a chance. And Bronco isn't one for gamesmanship. So I generally take his word for things like this.
And since you guys like to squabble over your coaches so much, I'll offer an outsider's $0.02. I'm a Mike Riley fan. I have some ties to Corvallis and really like what he did there. That's a difficult place to win. Oregon is a behemoth in that state. Their facilities are some of the worst in the conference. And he consistently put out a decent product. That said, I think Bo was a fine coach too. In many ways, at least as far as results are concerned, you replaced Bo with a version of himself that will play nice with the admin. But maybe that's just a jaded BYU fan talking who has seen too many 8-5 seasons himself and gotten used to it.
http://taysom4.com/
