Former Ram's son trying to make the team…. Austin Hill

Hard Knocks featured this guy in Episode #2, pouting a little too much on the sidelines for lack of play time……Not a good attitude to show the coaching staff.

URL = http://www.ocregister.com/articles/hill-725711-rams-austin.html

LOS ANGELES – For the first time in nearly three decades, a member of the Hill family suited up for the Rams.
Austin Hill stood in the Coliseum on Saturday, his No. 9 jersey hovering around the south sideline during the preseason opener against the Dallas Cowboys. He had joined the Rams just two weeks earlier, signing shortly after the start of training camp. Once the Pac-12’s second-leading receiver (in 2012), he is making his latest attempt to stick on an NFL roster – a journey that has already taken him to Oakland, New York and Ottawa.
“It’s so last minute,” Hill said, “but I was able to put together a tryout, show the coaches that I have some potential.”
A former star at Arizona, the 25-year-old is the son of David Hill, the 12-year NFL tight end who spent the latter half of his career with the Rams. Austin was born three years after his father’s final game, but he eventually picked up the details: the two Pro Bowls with the Lions, the blocks he laid out for Rams running back Eric Dickerson.

But he almost never heard the stories from David Hill himself.
“I don’t think he ever wanted to put extra pressure on his sons,” Austin said. “As a father, I don’t think he wanted to overshadow us as we were growing up, so he didn’t talk about it much. Either that, or he just missed it so much he didn’t want to talk about it.”

Despite the hands-off approach, Austin and his brothers all found their way to football. He became a three-star recruit out of Roosevelt High in Eastvale, signed with Arizona, and broke out as a third-year sophomore with 1,364 yards and 11 touchdowns. The future looked bright.

Four months later, he tore his ACL, his left knee buckling in the second-to-last practice of the spring. When he returned in 2014 for his final season, his numbers dropped: 48 catches, 630 yards, four scores. Concern about his knee lingered as well. After going undrafted, Hill signed with the Seahawks but failed his physical. Over the next six months, he caught on with the Raiders, the Jets and the Patriots, rarely lasting more than a few weeks. In June, he had a short-lived stint with the CFL’s Ottawa Redblacks.
That itinerant path has taught him an important lesson: “You’ve just got to have thick skin.”

Over time, Hill has learned not to take criticism too personally. (“Coaches aren’t going to try to be nice,” he said. “They’re going to cut to the chase, you know?”) He has learned not to take every roster cut as an indictment on his abilities, realizing that teams might simply have more pressing needs at other positions.

And he’s absorbed tips from various veterans around the league, including Julian Edelman and Brandon Marshall.
Forging out a long-term future with this team remains an uphill battle. Against the Cowboys, Rams quarterbacks targeted more than a dozen different players – including undrafted rookie Nelson Spruce, who caught a 7-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Still, Hill can’t help but be optimistic.

“I’m so happy to be out here,” he said. “It’s such an honor to be able to play on the team that my dad played for. Now I’ve just got to make the Hill name a little bit better.”