Brian Hill’s love for football developed after his mom bribed him to keep playing

Rookie running back Brian Hill loves playing football now, but that wasn’t always the case.

“Yeah, I was more of a video game kid,” Hill told The Falcoholic Saturday.

But his mom, Tamara Lewis, didn’t want Hill to be a couch potato, so she bribed him to play football.

“I never wanted to go outside, so she had to pay me $5 for every touchdown and sack,” Hill said.

It worked. As a matter of fact, it probably worked a little too well.

“Yeah, it was all about the money when I first started,” Hill said. “Then, I think one game I had four touchdowns and three sacks. She paid me my $35 and said, “That’s the end. That’s enough of that.”

Hill, who rushed for 4,287 yards and 35 touchdowns over three seasons at Wyoming, was selected by the Falcons in the fifth round of the 2017 draft. He thinks the team got an absolute steal.

“I didn’t expect the Falcons,” Hill said after the draft, via D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “No one in the house was expecting the Falcons, but a lot of teams passed on me in this draft. The Falcons just got the best running back in this draft in the fifth round.”

And it’s all thanks to Hill’s mom, who helped him foster a love for football from an early age.

“After that I just kept playing because I liked it. I’m grateful to her for pushing me to do that,” Hill said.