Mike Norvell circles Rodney Hill as potential high impact freshman for FSU

One of the best parts about fall camp for diehard college football fans is they get to hear hints and clues from their head coach about what freshmen could be instant impact playmakers for their team. While he wasn’t a highly touted prospect coming out of Bulloch Academy (Statesboro, Georgia), running back Rodney Hill has been immediately turning heads early in fall camp for the Florida State Seminoles. Recently, ‘Noles head coach Mike Norvell circled the dynamic running back as a player who could make a splash for the ‘Noles early this fall.

“Yeah, Rodney’s an explosive player. You know, I’m excited about his future. He’s gotta continue to work on some of the details of what he needs to do and that’s part of it as a freshman. But you know, he’s gonna put himself in a position if he continues to develop like he is and [he’ll have] an opportunity to be able to impact this team,” Norvell said.

His senior season for Bulloch Academy, Hill had 38 rushes for 344 yards and three touchdowns, averaging 9.1 yards per carry. He also snagged 12 balls for 152 receiving yards and one touchdown. During his final two seasons of high school football, he racked up 1,242 all-purpose yards. A dynamic athlete, the 5-foot-10, 186-pounder also played wide receiver, running back, and defensive back for Bulloch. Hill also ran track and played basketball for them, too.

According to the On3 Consensus Rankings for the 2022 cycle, he was rated as the No. 37 running back prospect in America and the No. 51 overall prospect in the state of Georgia. The talented tailback flew under the radar and was only rated three-stars.

Norvell also discussed the play of the rest of his running backs following Florida State’s first scrimmage in fall camp.

Mike Norvell assesses production of FSU’s running back room in first scrimmage

While speaking with the media following the event, Norvell also assessed the production of all the Seminole ball carriers.

“I think each of them had their moments,” began Norvell. “Plays where they made people miss. Ran for tough yards. Continued to churn their legs and create a little bit of extra yardage at times when there was not space.”

“I like that group. I like the toughness, the mentality that they have. They were able to create some things on their own, and obviously when they got a seem they were able to make some things happen as well. So it was an all in all pretty good day for them.”

Continuing, the Florida State leader explained what the other running backs besides Lawrance Toafili did to impress him at the event.

“Rodney [Hill] is a young freshman, had a couple of explosive plays. Trey Benson is continuing to get better. Treshaun Ward had a really good night as well. CJ Campbell was unavailable tonight, so it was those guys. We’re continuing to mix, I know you guys saw it — Ja’Khi Douglas is a guy that can kind of do a lot of different things, so we got him some work in the backfield and that showed up, as well.”

On3’s Alex Weber also contributed to this article.