STEVEHULL
Wide Receiver
6′-2″ 200 lbs.
Senior (on scholarship, 1 year to play 1)
Sycamore High School / Cincinnati, Ohio
Jersey Number: #9
What I Know About Him:
First off, if you’re new, I’m physically unable to type his name without giving it the STEVEHULL treatment. It’s not even my joke – when Hull signed with Illinois my friend Jacob made the “STEVE HOLT!” Arrested Development reference and it stuck. For four years on here, I’ve been saying STEVEHULL. I can type his last name just fine, but if I add the first, STEVEHULL.
Hull arrived as a wide receiver. And a decently recruited wide receiver, too. Fun fact: in high school he made SportsCenter’s Top Ten for a 99-yard interception return for a touchdown. He redshirted as a freshman and was Scout Team Player of the Year as a receiver. Then, in Rantoul in 2010, Supo Sanni tore his Achilles and we were suddenly very short on safeties. So maybe only 10 days before the Missouri game, Hull made the switch to safety. And he played there a lot, more or less becoming a three year starter there.
But his time at safety was severely limited by – and don’t quote me on this but I watch a lot of game on film so this is probably a pretty accurate count – his shoulder popping out of joint 93 times. It must have reached the point where he just can’t tackle anyone anymore, so for his final season, he has moved back to wide receiver. And because Donovonn Young has the #5 on offense, Hull has switched to #9.
What I Expect From Him:
Hull and Nathan Scheelhaase were roommates as redshirt freshmen. And whenever Nate wanted to work on certain routes, Hull was his receiver (including the morning of the spring game in 2009 when Scheelhaase was so hyped up to play football he woke Hull up very early and asked him to go to the stadium and run routes). I say that to point out that Hull and Scheelhaase should have pretty good chemistry on the field. Will Hull’s shoulder hold up? Who knows. But he showed good enough hands to win Scout Team Player of the Year, and I’ve seen him run some great routes in Rantoul, so it’s possible.
Best case scenario is maybe Mark Kornfeld’s final season – Hull moves to receiver as a senior and we wonder why he didn’t play receiver every season. Worst case scenario is an interception on the first play from scrimmage against Southern Illinois and then Hull pops his shoulder out making that tackle. Word of advice, STEVEHULL: sweep the leg.
