Ike Hilliard

Isaac Jason Hilliard (born April 5, 1976) is a former wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) and current wide receivers coach for the Atlanta Falcons.

He played primarily with the New York Giants.

Hilliard was born in Patterson, Louisiana in 1976.

He attended Patterson High School, where he was a star high school football player for the Patterson Lumberjacks.

During his senior year, he played quarterback, wingback, and free safety.

That year, he rushed for 737 yards and 12 touchdowns, caught 20 passes for 310 yards and two touchdowns, had 45 tackles and intercepted five passes.

He was rated among the top 10 defensive backs in the Southeast, but he had his heart set on playing wide receiver.

Hilliard accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played wide receiver for coach Steve Spurrier's Florida Gators football team from 1994 to 1996 although never having played the position before.

During his three seasons as a Gator, the team won three SEC Championships in 1994, 1995, and 1996.

Hilliard's signature game against Georgia came in 1995, when he hauled in five passes for 99 yards and two touchdowns, as the Gators claimed a 52–17 victory over the Bulldogs.

Hilliard played college football for the Florida Gators, earning consensus All-American honors in 1996.

As a junior in 1996, he was paired with fellow Gators receiver Reidel Anthony and both posted 1,000-yard seasons, and both Hilliard and Anthony were recognized as first-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selections and consensus first-team All-Americans, as the Gators won the Bowl Alliance national championship—their first-ever national football title.

Hilliard's efforts made him a semi-finalist for the Fred Biletnikoff Award in 1996.

He was a first-round pick (seventh overall) by the New York Giants in the 1997 NFL Draft.

The Gators finished the season with a record of 12–1 after a 52–20 victory over the top-ranked Florida State Seminoles in the 1997 Sugar Bowl.

Hilliard had a sensational performance in the 1997 Sugar Bowl victory for Florida against their arch rival Florida State.

His most well known play occurred during this game, as he snagged a Danny Wuerffel pass, took one hard step towards the end zone, then stopped on a dime, avoiding Seminole defenders as he dashed the remaining 15 yards to the end zone.

It was the second of a Sugar Bowl-record three touchdowns for Hilliard and it gave the Gators a 24–10 advantage in what ended as a 52-20 Florida victory.

Memorably, he set three Sugar Bowl Records against the Seminoles at the time: he had 150 receiving yards, including an 82-yard touchdown catch, and scored a total of three touchdowns for eighteen points.

The New York Giants selected Hilliard in the first round (seventh overall) of the 1997 NFL Draft.

He played his first eight seasons for the Giants from 1997 to 2004.

He became a regular starter in 1998, and helped the Giants shut out the Minnesota Vikings 41–0 in the 2000 season NFC Championship Game.

After an 8-month rehabilitation period, Hilliard was named an Ed Block Courage Award recipient in 1998, which are voted on by their teammates as role models of inspiration, sportsmanship, and courage.

He was chosen for The Florida Football All-Century Team, chosen by Gator fans and compiled by The Gainesville Sun in the fall of 1999.

As New York's wide receiver, he made 10 receptions for 155 yards and two touchdowns to help his team reach Super Bowl XXXV following the 2000 regular season.

A string of injuries kept him off the field throughout his time with the Giants.

During the second game of his rookie year, Hilliard was hit by Jacksonville safety Chris Hudson and sustained a sprained interspinous ligament between his sixth and seventh vertebrae.

He underwent posterior spine stabilization surgery, which fused the two vertebrae.

He continued at his level of play with disregard for his personal safety, which created a cringe-inducing medical record: bruised lungs and a bruised sternum in 2000, foot surgery before the 2001 season, and a dislocated shoulder in 2002.

As a Giant, he made 368 receptions for 4,630 receiving yards and twenty-seven touchdowns.

Additionally, he was selected to The 100th-Anniversary Florida Team that was selected in 2006 to celebrate a century of Florida football.

Fans voted by mail and online.

=== SEC Record Book ===

=== Sugar Bowl Record Book ===

Hilliard declared himself eligible for the NFL Draft after his junior season, and finished his college career with 126 receptions for 2,214 yards and twenty-nine touchdowns.

In a 2006 series published by The Gainesville Sun, he was recognized as No. 14 among the 100 all-time greatest Gator players from the first century of Florida football.

Hilliard also played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before retiring in 2008.

He was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 2009.

Hilliard was among the members of the 11th Anniversary class inducted into the Florida-Georgia Hall of Fame.

Hilliard was honored as an SEC Legend in 2011.