Texas defender is SEC’s highest-ranked player in ESPN’s list of top 100 players for 2025
By Mark Kern
Published:
Texas gets the season underway in 10 days when it travels to Columbus to take on the defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes in a rematch from a CFP semifinal game last season.
The Longhorns are the No. 1 ranked team in both the coaches and the AP polls. They are loaded on both sides of the ball, and have one of the best defensive players in the country in LB Anthony Hill Jr. leading the way.
ESPN came out with a top 100 player’s list entering the season, and Hill is the No. 2 player on the list, behind only Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith.
ESPN CFB analyst Chris Low had this to say about Hill:
The 6-3, 238-pound Hill has been a starter since his true freshman season. Now a junior, he has developed into one of the most well-rounded defenders in college football. He led the Longhorns last season with 113 total tackles and was fourth among FBS linebackers with 16.5 tackles for loss. Hill was a first-team ESPN All-America selection last season, and he returns to spearhead Texas’ defense.
Hill has been made his presence felt the moment he stepped on campus, and he has just continued to develop and get better. While Arch Manning gets a lot of the talk when Texas is brought up, the argument could be made that the junior linebacker is the heart and soul of the team.
Not only does Hill play the game at a high level, but he has the ability to make players around him better. He does a phenomenal job of making sure all his teammates are in the right spots, and that will be extremely crucial when facing the defending national champions in the season opener.
While it is hard for defensive players to win the Heisman Trophy in today’s college football, there is a very good chance that Hill will be winning some hardware this season in some capacity.
