By Hunt Palmer
When Chris Hilton needed a boost in January, he just looked down.
The former LSU wide receiver has “persevere” tattooed on his person. It’s been a source of inspiration for him during an arduous college career. Because his production never quite met his talent level at LSU, he’s putting everything he has into the pre-draft process.
That meant playing in four all-star games in a month to showcase his skills to whoever would watch.
“It was originally three,” Hilton told Matt Moscona on After Further Review. “Once the season was over, I got invited to the first three which is Hula, American and The Shrine Bowl. And, again, I didn’t have the production over my career that I wanted to, so I knew I had to go essentially put myself out there so scouts could see me.”
That was supposed to be it prior to the NFL Combine. However, during halftime of the East-West Shrine Bowl in Dallas, Hilton was contacted by the Senior Bowl in Mobile. No player in history has played in four showcase games. Hilton’s decision was an easy one.
“At halftime, right before halftime, I found out I got the invite to the Senior Bowl. And there was like no question I was doing the Senior Bowl,” Hilton said. “Because I told myself, if you get the Senior Bowl, you’re doing it no matter what. I filled out the registration and booked my flight at halftime. Went back out, played the game. The next day, I was on a flight to Mobile. I practiced that same day.”
Hilton never considered that the workload was “too much.” Over five seasons in Baton Rouge, the speedy wide out only totaled 41 catches for 780 yards and six touchdowns. His final season was supposed to be his breakout, but LSU’s sputtering offense only allowed him to make 10 catches for 112 yards.
Though he never truly broke through as a Tiger, Hilton dreams of joining his classmates Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr. among the NFL’s elites never wavered. Nor did his allegiance to LSU. He told Moscona transferring was never really an option.
“No, I’m from Louisiana,” Hilton said. “I grew up 30 minutes away from LSU. So, even though times got tough, I was never going to run away. I was just going to embrace it.”
Now he’s embracing the pre-draft process day-by-day.
“A lot of people, when they found out I was doing all three, you’ll get some looks,” Hilton said. “You sure you want to do that? Three games is a lot considering you just played a whole season. Or, are you worried about getting injured? My whole mindset was just go to work. I told myself that every day throughout the whole month of January. Wake up. Go to work.”
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