VIDEO: Wildwood’s Hills scores TD in NFL preseason debut

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

Wildwood High School graduate Wes Hills enjoyed an excellent debut in his first NFL preseason game for the Arizona Cardinals.

Hills ran eight times for 37 yards and a touchdown in the Cardinals’ 17-13 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers late Thursday.

Hills scored his touchdown on a seven-yard run early in the fourth quarter. His longest run of the game was 10 yards.

Hills also fumbled once, but the Cardinals regained possession on the play.

Hills, a 2013 graduate of Wildwood, went undrafted in April but was signed by the Cardinals as a free agent in early May after performing well at a tryout.

Hills played three seasons at FCS Delaware after graduating from Wildwood. He averaged 8.1 yards per carry and was a special teams standout as a freshman before running for 952 yards and six touchdowns as a sophomore. He took a medical redshirt after suffering a season-ending injury in the first game of his junior season. He came back the following year and averaged 8.3 yards per carry and scored seven touchdowns for the Blue Hens.

Hills left Delaware prior to his senior season and sat out a year before landing at Slippery Rock ahead of the 2018 season. He rushed for a school record 1,714 yards and scored 17 touchdowns for Slippery Rock last fall. He then won MVP honors at the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl after rushing for 79 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries.

As a high school player at Wildwood, Hills set Cape May County records with 2,107 rushing yards and 35 touchdowns while leading Wildwood to its first-ever South Jersey playoff berth under the current NJSIAA playoff system. Hills was also a standout in basketball and track as a high school athlete.