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Title: Dolphins' Hill fighting to reclaim spot Post by: DolFan619 on August 05, 2008, 09:56:48 am Dolphins' Hill fighting to reclaim spot BY DAVID J. NEAL Miami Herald Remember safety Renaldo Hill? The other Dolphins starter whose season ended with a torn right knee ligament last Oct. 21 in that catastrophic 49-21 home loss to New England? Comparatively, between playing a more glamorous position, that he had an All-Pro season working and that he's expected to be part of a tandem with Ricky Williams, running back Ronnie Brown's recovery has been chronicled nearly step by step. Hill is trying to recover and, possibly, regain his starting free safety job. In practice, Yeremiah Bell and Jason Allen have been the starting strong and free safeties, respectively. Free agents Chris Crocker and Keith Davis have been the second-teamers both in drills and on the depth chart. ''I just know each day I've got to come out and get better, do my job to the best of my abilities,'' Hill said. ``That's all I'm really concerned about. Everything else will take care of itself.'' Hill, who said he and Brown talked each day as they rehabilitated in the offseason, also spoke of regaining confidence in his knee. ''The first couple of practices, I was slow, questioning it,'' he said. ``As we kept getting out there more and more, I started feeling back to the old days where I could just react and not doing a whole lot of thinking.'' He's hoping he can be 100 percent for the Sept. 7 season opener. The 2007 season opener is when the Dolphins' safeties began dropping -- Bell tearing an Achilles tendon. When Hill went up to defend New England's Randy Moss on one of Moss' two jump-ball catches that day, Moss landed with the ball and Hill landed with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. By season's end, four Dolphins safeties had sustained season-ending injuries. ''Y.B. came out, he's our dog, he's our big safety that's our eight-man-in-the-box guy,'' linebacker Channing Crowder said. ``We had to adjust to that. Losing Renaldo out in the middle of the field, I think he's the best safety we have playing that middle of the field and just making breaks [on the ball] because he's a smart player. ``He's out there competing with a lot of good players, but I think he'll contribute to the defense this season.'' POP QUIZ Defensive end Matt Roth joined fellow defensive end Vonnie Holliday in taking some practice snaps at outside linebacker in the 3-4 defense. Like Holliday, if Roth lined up there, he would probably be the pass-rushing outside linebacker instead of dropping into coverage. Asked how long it has been since he played linebacker, Roth said, ``Since freshman year of college [at Iowa]. I was the mike [inside], so now it's the outside linebacker, sort of a glorified end.'' CRACKLING COLLISION Crowder delivered the hardest hit in camp -- or at least the hardest-looking hit -- when he dropped his pal Brown as Brown caught a short pass in the right flat during team drills Monday. The team was working out in shells and shorts, and the Dolphins have not been tackling at full speed thus far in training camp. ''I'll knock the hell out of Ronnie,'' Crowder laughed. ``If he had the ball right now, I'd go knock the hell out of Ronnie. I don't like Ronnie. Naw, I tried to pull up, honestly, but I was coming too fast and the angle was there -- amazing angle if I do say so myself -- and let him have it. See if that knee is right.'' After the collision, Brown and Crowder tapped each other on the helmet as Brown rose. |