Ex-Nebraska CB, praised by Travis Hunter, to attend Vikings rookie camp

Former University of Nebraska cornerback Tommi Hill will attend the Vikings' rookie minicamp as a tryout player, according to the Nebraska football program's official Instagram account.

Normally, a player getting invited to rookie camp on a tryout basis isn't particularly noteworthy, unless that player happens to be the son of a franchise legend. These are guys who weren't one of the 257 prospects drafted this past weekend, nor were they one of the roughly 400-500 players who signed with a team as an undrafted free agent shortly after the draft's conclusion. By nature, tryout players are major long shots to ever set foot on an NFL field.

But Hill isn't a typical rookie minicamp invitee. This is a guy who was a projected sixth-round pick before the draft, was viewed as a possible first-rounder prior to the 2024 college football season, and drew praise from Heisman winner and No. 2 overall pick Travis Hunter at the NFL combine a few months back. If there's a tryout player who could emerge from this year's rookie camp, it might be him — if he's healthy.

Hill was a highly-recruited two-way player at cornerback and wide receiver at Edgewater High School in Orlando. He began his college career at Arizona State, then transferred to Nebraska after one season. In 2023, his second year with the Cornhuskers, Hill had a breakout season, recording nine passes defended and four interceptions. He earned an 87.1 PFF coverage grade that year and was starting to generate some draft buzz coming into his senior season.

The hype around Hill grew in Nebraska's Week 2 victory over Colorado last September. He had a pick-six off of Shedeur Sanders in the first quarter and battled all game with Hunter, who caught ten passes for 110 yards but had to work hard for it. Hill had an 82.7 coverage grade in that game.

TOMMI HILL TO THE HOUSE AND THE SEA OF RED ERUPTS! 🔴 @HuskerFootball

📺 NBC & Peacock pic.twitter.com/enMbrHjhMB
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) September 8, 2024

"Toughest corner, probably from either Nebraska or Oklahoma State," Hunter said at the combine when asked about the toughest players he faced in college. Though he didn't say his name, that's undoubtedly referring to Hill, who was his primary matchup in that game.

Nebraska cornerback Tommi Hill said he and Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter traded words in the first half on Saturday.

“If he was going against me,” Hill said, “he was gonna face a dog.”

Hill said he told Hunter to expect a rough night. “I told him nothing is gonna be… pic.twitter.com/3bWhJ4IfG2
— Mitch Sherman (@mitchsherman) September 8, 2024

Unfortunately, injury issues derailed Hill's season. He dealt with plantar fasciitis in his foot and attempted to play through it, with poor results. He ultimately was shut down for the season, but the injury lingered into his pre-draft process. Hill wasn't very sharp at the Senior Bowl and didn't do any athletic testing.

With that said, it's still pretty surprising that he not only went undrafted, but wasn't signed by any of the 32 teams as a UDFA. Hill was 175th on the consensus media big board put together by Wide Left's Arif Hasan, making him the ninth-highest-ranked player who went undrafted. The Athletic's Dane Brugler had him as his CB22, giving him a 5th-6th round grade.

"Hill is a good-sized man corner with the competitiveness and athleticism to push for early playing time in the NFL. Drafting him will require a leap of faith that he'll return to his 2023 form, but it won't be surprising if he outplays his draft spot," Brugler wrote.

The Vikings didn't draft a cornerback this year and only signed two — Utah's Zemaiah Vaughn and Kansas State's Keenan Garber — as UDFAs. If Hill's foot is OK, it wouldn't be shocking to see him impress at rookie minicamp and potentially earn a contract in Minnesota.

"They counted me out, this s*** make me go 10x harder," Hill wrote in an Instagram story after the draft.

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