Anthony Hill Jr. is a linebacker and 2026 NFL Draft prospect who played three seasons at the University of Texas. A native of Denton, Texas, Hill was a consensus five-star recruit in the 2023 class, ranking inside the top 25 nationally and among the top linebackers in his class, and chose to stay home to play for Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns. He cracked the starting lineup midway through his true freshman season in 2023, finishing with 67 tackles, eight tackles for loss and five sacks to earn Freshman All-America honors and be named co-Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year. As a sophomore in 2024 he became one of the most productive linebackers in the country, leading the SEC with 17 tackles for loss while posting 113 tackles, eight sacks, four forced fumbles and an interception to earn Second-Team All-American honors. In 2025 he tallied 69 tackles, seven tackles for loss, four sacks and five forced turnovers across ten games before a broken hand ended his regular season, and he ran a 4.51-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine. His career totals include 249 tackles, 17 sacks and three interceptions in three seasons.
Measured at 6-foot-3 and 238 pounds, Hill is an explosive, scheme-versatile linebacker whose defining trait is his ability to disrupt at the line of scrimmage. His pass-rush arsenal is among the most advanced of any off-ball linebacker in the 2026 class, and Texas used him on delayed blitzes, A-gap stunts and edge alignments throughout his career, resulting in a 17-sack career total. He diagnoses plays with urgency, triggers downhill quickly and is a violent finisher who forces turnovers through physical play. The areas requiring development center on his coverage technique in man situations, a tendency to over-pursue or bite on play-action, and limited experience disengaging from NFL-caliber blockers. With the injury history also a factor for medical evaluation, most projections place him as a late first-round to early second-round pick with starter potential and the playmaking ceiling of one of the better linebackers in the draft when fully healthy.
