It's not every day a former NFL star leaves you a message, inquiring about volunteering to coach, but that was exactly what happened recently with Siloam Springs coach Bryan Ross.
Ross recently received a message from former Arkansas Razorback and seven-year pro football veteran Peyton Hillis about that very thing, and the two met last week to discuss it.
By Monday, Hillis was on board as volunteer coach with the Panthers, and he worked with them at team camp on Monday morning and at 7-on-7 on Monday night.
Hillis played in the NFL as recently as last November as a member of the New York Giants, but his best days in the league came with the Denver Broncos in 2008 and 2009 and the Cleveland Browns in 2010 and 2011.
He also spent time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs.
Hillis was one tough cookie on the football field. I remember when he played at Arkansas, he did just about everything on offense for the Razorbacks. He ran the ball, caught the ball, returned kick-offs, returned punts.
In the NFL, he was more of a bruising running back, sort of like one of my all-time favorites, Mike Alstott of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. At 6-foot-2 and 250 pounds, Hillis was one back I wouldn't want to try and tackle.
I remember cheering for Hillis in 2010 as he enjoyed the best season of his professional career with the Cleveland Browns, running for more than 1,000 yards.
Heck, his 2010 season was so good, it helped him win a nation-wide contest to land on the cover of a video game. How awesome is that?
But a player's career can only last so long, and Hillis' time was cut short by multiple concussions.
While visiting with him on Monday, he pointed out that the most important thing a football player has after his career is over isn't necessarily the money he's made. Instead, it's what's between the ears, and the threat of another concussion just wasn't worth it to Hillis, not with his young family of his wife, Amanda, and 2-year-old son Orry.
Hillis is trying to break into the coaching profession and he feels he's best suited to work with young kids. I don't think I was out of line by telling him he'll work with some of the best kids he's ever met in Siloam Springs.
The kids in Siloam Springs, in general, aren't the fastest, strongest, or most outstanding athletes on the football field, but they will scrap, fight and claw with anyone. And as they've shown over the last few years, they won't back down from anyone either.
Peyton Hillis is going to discover that for himself soon enough.
-- Graham Thomas is the managing editor for the Herald-Leader. He can be reached at [email protected]. The opinions expressed are those of the author.
Sports on 07/22/2015