4/28/2017 football Edit

Delano Hill Selected By The Seattle Seahawks At No. 95 Overall

Austin Fox • Maize&BlueReview

Staff Writer

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Delano Hill became the fifth Wolverine to come off the board. (Lon Horwedel)

The Seattle Seahawks selected former Michigan safety Delano Hill with the No. 95 pick in the third round of the NFL draft. Hill became the fifth Michigan player off the board in the 2017 draft, which perhaps came as a surprise to some.

Hill, who played his high school ball at Detroit Cass Tech, compiled a solid career at Michigan. He started all 13 games this past season, and earned All-Big Ten second-team honors by the coaches.

He also recorded 4.5 tackles for loss, three interceptions, six pass breakups and a forced fumble this past year. The Detroit native racked up a career-best 11 tackles in a 32-23 victory at Michigan State on Oct. 29, and also intercepted a career-high two passes against Maryland on Nov. 5.

ESPN’s Todd McShay said the more he studied Hill, the more impressed he was.

“This guy’s tape grew on me as I continued to watch,” said McShay. “There’s 11 or 12 prospects on that Michigan defense that you’re trying to sort through, and safeties are always hard because they don’t have a ton of plays at the point of attack. As I continued to watch, I liked his angles versus the run, and he’s really consistently around the ball.

“To me, he doesn’t have elite range, has some tightness in coverage, but I just think he’s physical and he has the right mentality to contribute on special teams.”

Mel Kiper of ESPN had similar thoughts.

“He looked like a second round pick in the Ohio State and Michigan State games,” Kiper said. “But he didn’t always play to that level. Running a 4.47 40 at the combine at 6-1, 216, certainly got everybody’s attention.”

Hill became Michigan’s fourth player off the board; amazingly, the Wolverines hadn't seen four players taken in a single draft since 2008. The last time the Maize and Blue even saw a safety drafted was Steve Brown in 2010.