STARKVILLE – Mississippi State might need to increase its football spending budget.
After junior running back Kylin Hill topped 100 rushing yards for the fourth-straight game in MSU's 28-13 win over Kentucky on Saturday, head coach Joe Moorhead pitched an idea to make sure Hill stays healthy the rest of the year.
"We're going to put him in a hyperbaric chamber, or whatever that's called," Moorhead said.
According to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, hyperbaric oxygen therapy is "a type of treatment used to speed up healing of carbon monoxide poisoning, gangrene, stubborn wounds, and infections in which tissues are starved for oxygen."
"The goal is to fill the blood with enough oxygen to repair tissues and restore normal body function," the school's website says.
Hill doesn't have a life-threatening complication like the ones listed above, and his body is functioning normally. He showed that when he leaped from the 4-yard line at Davis Wade Stadium and soared over the corner of the end zone for a 12-yard touchdown rush, his first of three on the day.
Hill evoked freshman quarterback Garrett Shrader on the play. He infamously leaped from 5 yards away from the line to gain in last week's loss to Kansas State. He came up 1 yard short of the sticks. Hill cleared the pylon rather easily.
"I did a little better than Garrett," Hill said with a smile.
Moorhead's comment about the expensive treatment option wasn't serious, obviously. Plus, Hill said his body is holding up nicely. He's not dinged up like he was at times last season. He credits that to MSU's strength and conditioning staff.
"They do an incredible job with each player on our team," Hill said. "So right now, I feel real good."
Moorhead's hyperbaric hyperbole was an ode to just how important Hill has been in Mississippi State's first month of the season. He ranks third in the country in rushing yards with 551. The next closest SEC tailback is Auburn's JaTarvious Whitlow with 408.
Hill became the first Bulldog to start the season with four 100-yard rushing games in a row in nearly 30 years. He's the first player in the program to exceed the century mark in rushing in any stretch of four consecutive games since Anthony Dixon did so in 2009.
Hill's usage has almost tripled since last year. Through four games last season, Hill only had 36 carries. Now he has 91. Hill said those numbers don't matter. He's more concerned with the number three – Mississippi State's win total.
"It can be eight carries, 20, 30 or 40," Hill said. "Whatever I got to do to get the win, I'm just going to do my job and not worry about the carries."
What Hill probably won't admit is that the amount of touches he gets directly impacts Mississippi State's chances of winning.
Senior quarterback Tommy Stevens missed Saturday's game with his shoulder injury. Shrader was more than serviceable in his place, but Moorhead's game plan was apparent once MSU took an 18-point lead into halftime.
"Keep feeding '8' the ball," he said.
Shrader only attempted six passes in the second half after firing 16 in the first. Hill, meanwhile, had 12 carries in the first and 14 in the second. He finished with 120 yards, which is his third-highest total of the season. That's how good he's been in the early going.
"That is a very good football player," Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops said. "Coming out of the game you just have more respect for (him) because you could see that he was very tough, very physical. He ran through some tackles and he was a grown man out there."
Hill said it starts with Mississippi State's offensive line. When it became obvious Moorhead would rely on the running game to close out the Wildcats, Hill and the big Bulldogs up front came together to get it done.
"They just told me they're going to push and that they're leaning on me," Hill said. "I told them, 'It starts with y'all. Just block and I got y'all.' Basically, it was a chemistry thing. We focused in and said we need to finish this game right now."
That's what they did, with some help from Shrader too. Like Hill channeling his inner Shrader on the end zone leap, Shrader imitated Hill with rushes of 49 and 18 yards on the Dogs' final possession of the game. Hill capped the drive with his third score of the day.
Moorhead first came to Mississippi State telling former quarterback Nick Fitzgerald to dust off some shelf space for a Heisman Trophy. He had a potential award-winning player sitting elsewhere in the locker room.
It'll be hard for Hill to even sniff the Heisman with how prolific quarterbacks are in this era, but a Doak Walker Award for the top running back in college football is well within reach if Hill keeps up his current pace.
Mississippi State hasn't had a player win the prize since its inception in 1990. Hill is in line to break Dixon's program record for must rushing yards in a season (1,391). At Hill's current average of 137.75 yards per game, he'd have 1,663 in a full 12-game schedule if he stays on that exact pace.
Hill isn't thinking about any of that just yet. He's staying grounded mentally, but don't be surprised if you see him leave the ground to hurdle defenders and fly into end zones throughout the rest of his junior season.
"I dreamed of moments like this," Hill said. "I want to give a big shout out to my mom. She kept me level-headed through hard times in my freshman year and last year. She told me just kept balling. God's got you."
