Michigan Football Q&A: Delano Hill
11/15/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 15, 2015
Michigan celebrates the game-winning fourth-down stop
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Michigan players and coaches will sit down with MGoBlue.com's Steve Kornacki weekly during the 2015 season to discuss Wolverine football. Safety Delano Hill spoke on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 15) about his two big plays at the end of Saturday's (Nov. 14) 48-41 double-overtime win at Indiana, Big Sean, dedicating the game to Chad Carr, and Saturday's (Nov. 21) game at Penn State.
Q. What was the team's bus ride to the airport and flight home from Indiana like?
A. It's always a good time going home after we win a game. Everybody was happy, and we were having a good time.
Q. What was your favorite text, tweet or phone call after the game?
A. I always talk to my brother, Lavert, before and after games, and we had a good talk. It was funny. He was laughing.
Q. Who on the team decided to dedicate this game to Chad Carr and what does his spirit mean to you?
A. It was Coach (Jim) Harbaugh's idea to dedicate it to Chad. Our captains, Joe Bolden and Joe Kerridge, got the idea to put "CHAD TOUGH" on our helmets, and so we played the game for him. And when you dedicate the game to someone, you've got to get the win and do the best that you can.
Note: Chad Carr, 5, is in hospice care with an inoperable brain tumor. His father, Jason, was a Wolverines quarterback and his grandfather, Lloyd, was a Hall of Fame coach at Michigan. Chad's maternal grandfather, Tom Curtis, also is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. Curtis was an All-America cornerback at Michigan in 1969 and his daughter, Tammi, is Chad's mother.
Q. You had a career-high 10 tackles and the last one in the second overtime was perhaps the team's most important stop of the game. Can you take us back to your tackle of Hoosiers quarterback Nate Sudfeld at the two-yard line after his run up the middle for three yards on third down?
A. I just had to read my keys, and I saw him coming out of the backfield on the read option. I knew I had to get him down.
Q. Your pass breakup against Mitchell Paige at the goal line on fourth down ended the game. What was it like to see a replay of it and is there anything you realized about the play afterward that you didn't mention to reporters after the game?
A. No, I still haven't seen a replay. But me and (cornerback) Channing Stribling play on the same side, and so we knew the pass was either coming to his guy or my guy. We talked about it, and so we were on the same page.
Q. Your Detroit Cass Tech teammates, cornerback Jourdan Lewis and buck linebacker Royce Jenkins-Stone, also had big games. And offensive lineman David Dawson and cornerback Terry Richardson are other current Wolverines from your school. Can you describe what it means to accomplish what you are doing this year at Michigan in an 8-2 season with them?
A. They have been my friends since I was a little kid, and we've had fun playing together in high school and college. We're going to be friends for our lifetimes, and those are the greatest friends you have.
Q. Rapper Big Sean, another Cass Tech guy, met with the team after the Rutgers game last Saturday (Nov. 7). What was that experience like?
A. He came to talk to the team and seemed like a pretty cool guy. He told us he roots for the team and is always there supporting us.
Q. What was Coach Harbaugh's message to the team when he huddled up everyone before the first overtime?
A. He told us, "This is our first overtime together. Let's go out and play for the win."
Q. Your first name of Delano, is that a family name or connected to U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt?
A. It's a family name. That's my father's middle name.
Q. Your last two road games have ended with goal-line stands. The defense gang-tackled Minnesota quarterback Mitch Leidner on his attempted sneak from the one-yard line at Minnesota and then you responded to hold Indiana at the two-yard line to avert another overtime session. What enables your defense to make these stands?
A. We play the game for 60 minutes, and then we go to overtime playing as hard as we can to come out with a win.
Q. Big Willie Henry was one of the first to greet you after the final play and put a bear hug on you. What was that moment of joy like?
A. That was just so much fun because you play so hard with the other guys to get the win.
Q. You've got one last road game this season Saturday at Penn State, which has that school's all-time passing leader, Christian Hackenberg, at quarterback. Will it come down to a goal-line stand in a third consecutive road game?
A. I know they're a good team, and he's a real good quarterback. They'll play hard, too. I don't know about the end of the game. We'll just have to wait and see.
