 Hilliard with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2008 | |||||||||
| Atlanta Falcons | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Wide receivers coach | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born: | (1976-04-05)April 5, 1976 (age 48) Patterson, Louisiana, U.S. | ||||||||
| Height: | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 210 lb (95 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Patterson | ||||||||
| College: | Florida (1994–1996) | ||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1997: 1st round, 7th pick | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
As a player: | |||||||||
As a coach: | |||||||||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Isaac Jason Hilliard (born April 5, 1976) is an Americanfootball coach and formerwide receiver who is the wide receivers coach for theAtlanta Falcons of theNational Football League (NFL). He played primarily with theNew York Giants.
Hilliard playedcollege football for theFlorida Gators, earning consensusAll-American honors in 1996. He was a first-round pick (seventh overall) by theNew York Giants in the1997 NFL draft. Hilliard also played for theTampa Bay Buccaneers before retiring in 2008.
Hilliard was born inPatterson, Louisiana in 1976.[1] He attendedPatterson High School,[2] where he was a starhigh school football player for the Patterson Lumberjacks. During his senior year, he played quarterback, wingback and free safety. That year, he rushed for 737 yards and 12 touchdowns, caught 20 passes for 310 yards and two touchdowns, had 45 tackles and intercepted five passes. He was rated among the top 10 defensive backs in the Southeast, but his desire was to play wide receiver.[3]
Hilliard accepted an athletic scholarship to attend theUniversity of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played wide receiver for coachSteve Spurrier'sFlorida Gators football team from1994 to1996 although never having played the position before.[4] During his three seasons as a Gator, the team won threeSEC Championships in1994,1995, and1996. As a junior in 1996, he was paired with fellow Gators receiverReidel Anthony and both posted 1,000-yard seasons, and both Hilliard and Anthony were recognized as first-teamAll-Southeastern Conference selections and consensus first-team All-Americans,[4][5] as the Gators won theBowl Alliance national championship—their first-ever national football title. Hilliard's efforts made him a semi-finalist for theFred Biletnikoff Award in 1996. The Gators finished the season with a record of 12–1 after a 52–20 victory over the top-rankedFlorida State Seminoles in the1997 Sugar Bowl.[6] Hilliard had a sensational performance in the 1997 Sugar Bowl victory for Florida against their arch rival Florida State. His most well known play occurred during this game, as he snagged a Danny Wuerffel pass, took one hard step towards the end zone, then stopped on a dime, avoiding Seminole defenders as he dashed the remaining 15 yards to the end zone. It was the second of a Sugar Bowl-record three touchdowns for Hilliard and it gave the Gators a 24–10 advantage in what ended as a 52–20 Florida victory.[7] Memorably, he set threeSugar Bowl records against the Seminoles at the time: he had 150 receiving yards, including an 82-yard touchdown catch, and scored a total of three touchdowns for eighteen points.[4]
Hilliard was among the members of the 11th-anniversary class inducted into theFlorida-Georgia Hall of Fame. Hilliard's signature game againstGeorgia came in 1995 when he hauled in five passes for 99 yards and two touchdowns, as the Gators claimed a 52–17 victory over the Bulldogs.[8] He was inducted into theUniversity of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 2009.[9][10]
Hilliard was honored as an SEC Legend in 2011. He was chosen for the Florida Football All-Century Team, chosen by Gator fans and compiled byThe Gainesville Sun in the fall of 1999.[11] Additionally, he was selected to the 100th-Anniversary Florida team that was selected in 2006 to celebrate a century of Florida football. Fans voted by mail and online.[12]
Source:[15]
Hilliard declared himself eligible for theNFL draft after his junior season, and finished his college career with 126receptions for 2,214 yards and twenty-ninetouchdowns.[4] In a 2006 series published byThe Gainesville Sun, he was recognized as No. 14 among the 100 all-time greatest Gator players from the first century of Florida football.[18]
TheNew York Giants selected Hilliard in the first round (seventh overall) of the 1997 NFL Draft.[19] He played his first eight seasons for the Giants from1997 to2004.[20] He became a regularstarter in1998,[20] and helped the Giants shut out theMinnesota Vikings 41–0 in the2000 season NFC Championship Game. As New York's wide receiver, he made 10 receptions for 155 yards and two touchdowns to help his team reachSuper Bowl XXXV following the2000 regular season.
A string of injuries kept him off the field throughout his time with the Giants. During the second game of his rookie year, Hilliard was hit byJacksonville safetyChris Hudson and sustained a sprainedinterspinous ligament between his sixth and seventh vertebrae. He underwent posterior spine stabilization surgery, which fused the two vertebrae.[21] After an 8-month rehabilitation period,[22] Hilliard was named anEd Block Courage Award recipient in 1998, which are voted on by their teammates as role models of inspiration, sportsmanship, and courage. He continued at his level of play with disregard for his personal safety, which created a cringe-inducing medical record: bruised lungs and a bruised sternum in 2000, foot surgery before the 2001 season, and a dislocated shoulder in 2002.[23]
With the Giants, Hilliard recorded 368receptions for 4,630 receiving yards and 27touchdowns.[1] He currently ranks seventh in franchise history in receptions and tenth in receiving yards.[24][25] He signed a one-day contract to retire with the Giants on July 30, 2010.[26]
On May 6, 2005, it was reported that Hilliard signed with theTampa Bay Buccaneers.[27] During his first two seasons with Tampa Bay, he was used mainly as a third or fourth receiver, but in2007, he started ten games, in which he made sixty-two receptions for 722 yards.[20] During his time with the Bucs, he became a third down specialist, with 111 of 178 career catches resulting in a first down. Head coachJon Gruden referred to him as "Third and Ike".[28]
On October 19, 2008, Hilliard refused to be carted off the field during aSunday Night Football 20–10 win over theSeattle Seahawks. Seattle linebackerLeroy Hill made a helmet-to-helmet collision to Hilliard, as Seahawks linebackerLofa Tatupu hit Hilliard from behind, forcing his body to go limp, after making a catch in the second quarter.[29]
After four seasons with the team, Hilliard was released by the Buccaneers on February 25, 2009.[30] He was one of five veterans that the Bucs released that day, the other four being wide receiverJoey Galloway, running backWarrick Dunn and linebackersDerrick Brooks andCato June.[31]
In his twelve-season NFL career, Hilliard appeared in 161 regular-season games, starting in 105, and made 546 catches for 6,397 yards and thirty-five touchdowns.[1] He also had 126 rushing yards on sixteen attempts.[1]
Receiving statistics[32]
| Year | Team | GP | Rec | Yards | Avg | Lng | TD | FD | Fum | Lost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | NYG | 2 | 2 | 42 | 21.0 | 23 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 1998 | NYG | 16 | 51 | 715 | 14.0 | 50 | 2 | 29 | 2 | 2 |
| 1999 | NYG | 16 | 72 | 996 | 13.8 | 46 | 3 | 50 | 0 | 0 |
| 2000 | NYG | 14 | 55 | 787 | 14.3 | 59 | 8 | 44 | 0 | 0 |
| 2001 | NYG | 14 | 52 | 659 | 12.7 | 38 | 6 | 36 | 0 | 0 |
| 2002 | NYG | 7 | 27 | 386 | 14.3 | 38 | 2 | 21 | 0 | 0 |
| 2003 | NYG | 13 | 60 | 608 | 10.1 | 38 | 6 | 38 | 2 | 2 |
| 2004 | NYG | 16 | 49 | 437 | 8.9 | 43 | 0 | 22 | 3 | 1 |
| 2005 | TB | 16 | 35 | 282 | 8.1 | 22 | 1 | 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 2006 | TB | 16 | 34 | 339 | 10.0 | 44 | 2 | 19 | 0 | 0 |
| 2007 | TB | 15 | 62 | 722 | 11.6 | 56 | 1 | 37 | 2 | 2 |
| 2008 | TB | 16 | 47 | 424 | 9.0 | 36 | 4 | 31 | 1 | 1 |
| Career | 161 | 546 | 6,397 | 11.7 | 59 | 35 | 353 | 10 | 8 | |
Returning statistics[32]
| Year | Team | GP | PR | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | FC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | NYG | 16 | 4 | 26 | 6.5 | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| 2006 | TB | 16 | 24 | 163 | 6.8 | 16 | 0 | 3 |
| 2007 | TB | 15 | 15 | 92 | 6.1 | 20 | 0 | 4 |
| 2008 | TB | 16 | 3 | 19 | 6.3 | 11 | 0 | 7 |
| Career | 63 | 46 | 300 | 6.5 | 20 | 0 | 14 | |
Forced to retire after a string of injuries and nine surgeries, Hilliard became a volunteer receivers coach for theUFL'sFlorida Tuskers, a charter UFL franchise based inOrlando, Florida. In 2010, he became the Tuskers' new wide receivers coach for the season. He worked alongside head coachJim Haslett and offensive coordinatorJay Gruden. The Tuskers appeared in the first twoUFL championship games, losing both to theLas Vegas Locomotives. In 2010, the league suspended the Tuskers' operations and moved the remnants of the team to Virginia Beach to assume the identity (and some executive staff) of a previously announcedexpansion team that was to begin play in 2011.[33][34]
In 2011, Hilliard returned to the NFL as an assistant wide receivers coach for theMiami Dolphins under head coachTony Sparano, assisting in the development ofBrandon Marshall andBrian Hartline.
In 2012, Hilliard was hired byMike Shanahan of theWashington Redskins as the wide receivers coach. He oversaw a unit that had four wide receivers with at least 500 receiving yards or more (Santana Moss,Leonard Hankerson,Josh Morgan andPierre Garçon). The Redskins ended the regular season with a 7-game winning streak to finish with a 10–6 record, leading to a NFC East division championship and a fourth-seed spot in the playoffs. It was their first division title since1999.
In 2013, theBuffalo Bills hired Hilliard as the wide receivers coach.[35] Hilliard oversaw a young group of receivers that included veteranSteve Johnson and rookiesRobert Woods andMarquise Goodwin.
In January 2014, Hilliard was hired byJay Gruden as the wide receivers coach of theWashington Redskins. In his second stint with the Redskins, Hilliard led a veteran unit that includedPierre Garçon,DeSean Jackson andSantana Moss. In the2015 season, the Redskins returned to the playoffs for the first time since2012. The Redskins went on a four-game winning streak to finish the season, and they won the NFC East with a 9–7 record. However, the Redskins lost to theGreen Bay Packers in the Wild Card round 35–18.[36] During the2019 season, Hilliard helped to develop a group of rookie receivers that includedTerry McLaurin,Kelvin Harmon andSteven Sims.[37] McLaurin finished the season with 58 receptions for 919 yards and seven touchdowns and was named to thePFWA All-Rookie Team.[38]
Hilliard joined thePittsburgh Steelers to be their wide receivers coach in February 2020.[39] RookieChase Claypool was selected by thePittsburgh Steelers in the second round, 49th overall, in the2020 NFL draft as the team's first selection.[40] Under Hilliard, Claypool became the first Steelers rookie in franchise history to score four touchdowns in a game, and the first Steeler sinceRoy Jefferson in 1968 to do so.[41] Claypool also became the only wide receiver in NFL history to accomplish this feat in the same game. His performance helped the team start out with a 4–0 record for the first time since 1979.[42] Under Hilliard, WRDiontae Johnson finished the 2021 season with 107 receptions for 1,161 receiving yards and eight receiving touchdowns in 16 games. Johnson was then named to his first Pro Bowl, replacing Bengals receiverJa'Marr Chase.[43] Following the 2021 season, Hilliard's contract was not renewed by the team.[44]
Hilliard was hired on February 23, 2022, to be Auburn's new wide receivers coach. After the dismissal of head coachBryan Harsin in October 2022, Hilliard was named interim co-offensive coordinator alongside offensive line coach Will Friend for the remainder of the season.[45] He was not retained after the 2022 season upon the hiring of new head coachHugh Freeze.[46]
Hilliard was named the wide receivers coach of the Atlanta Falcons on February 1, 2024.[47]
Hilliard is the nephew of formerNew Orleans Saints running backDalton Hilliard. His cousinKenny Hilliard is also a former NFL player. He and his wife Lourdes met at the University of Florida and they have five children. After declaring for the1997 NFL draft as a true junior and spending 23 seasons in the NFL (as a player and coach), Hilliard returned to the University of Florida to complete his degree.[48] He worked as an NFL coach while working to complete his degree from 2013 to 2018.[49]
Media related toIke Hilliard at Wikimedia Commons
