In expanded role, Brandyn Hillman bolstering Michigan secondary with long-standing skills

Over the past decade, between his first football game as an elementary schooler and his most recent one as a Division I student-athlete, Brandyn Hillman has certainly gotten bigger, stronger and faster. His competition has, too. But the defining characteristics of Hillman’s game have always been there — even at the very beginning.

Now a sophomore safety for the No. 10 Michigan football team, Hillman is known for his hard hits and innate ability to find the football. He was known for those same two qualities as an 8-year-old.

“If y’all search back up my name on YouTube or something, you’ll see literally clips of my mom recording me from games, just a couple hits on YouTube,” Hillman said Tuesday. “But it started with my grandma. She called me ‘Bamm-Bamm,’ from the Flintstones, cause I used to hit people so hard.”

Sure enough, you can find some of those clips here. Hillman was all over the place, and he truly embodied the “Bamm-Bamm” nickname — both on and off the field. 

At home, he used to practice tackling on pillows. His grandma would hold one up in front of the couch, and he would run full speed and hit the pillow as hard as possible. Sometimes his grandma would even put on pads and line up against him.

Those early experiences shaped the defensive player Hillman has become, but he played primarily on offense until the last six games of his high school career. Toward the end of his senior season at Churchland High School — fittingly known as the Truckers — he switched from quarterback to full-time defensive back for college recruiting purposes. That change quickly paid off, as he went from just one offer to nearly 20.

As a freshman for the Wolverines last season, Hillman appeared in nine games at defensive back while contributing on special teams. Primed for a bigger role heading into his sophomore year, he made notable strides this past offseason. According to Michigan coach Sherrone Moore, Hillman “matched his athleticism with his potential” during fall camp, earning himself more minutes in the secondary.

“I just keep attacking the ball,” Hillman said. “My mindset is, ‘See ball, hit ball.’ I’m a defensive player, so I gotta stand by that — that’s my job. And I’m the last line of defense, so I gotta make sure I get the person down.”

Against Minnesota on Saturday, Hillman recorded a pass breakup, a shared tackle for loss and two stops overall while rotating in at safety and playing on special teams. As he gets more opportunities on defense each week, he continues to show those two traits that have set him apart since elementary school.

And his teammates on the other side of the ball know Hillman’s hard hits all too well.

“That man’s wild,” sophomore wide receiver Kendrick Bell said. “In practice you gotta sit down a little bit, though, you can’t hit somebody crazy. But I don’t know how to explain, he’s a headhunter, that’s what he is.”

Bell paused for a few seconds before smiling, laughing and softly adding one last remark:

“He’s outta control sometimes.”

A lot has changed since Hillman first stepped on the football field about 10 years ago. But he’s still the hard-hitting, ball-seeking missile that he was as a pee wee — since then, he just traded in pillows for Division I opponents.

The post In expanded role, Brandyn Hillman bolstering Michigan secondary with long-standing skills appeared first on The Michigan Daily.


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