Draft Diaries: Connection for Hill & Boyd Goes Beyond Time with Vikings & Longhorns

[Viktor]

"I just looked up, and the first thing I said was, 'I'm going with Hollywood,' " Boyd said, using Hill's longtime nickname. "Everybody was just so happy. It was an even bigger blessing."


Shortly after Boyd's announcement, it was Hill's phone that started ringing and didn't stop.


"Right after [I got drafted], I'm pretty sure his mom called him, somebody else had just hit him up – "


Hill interrupted Boyd over the Skype call:


"Everybody from [my hometown] was blowing me up. Whoa, Kris is coming to the Vikings!Oooh! And I'm like, 'I know! I know!' "


Many fans know that Hill and Boyd teamed together at Texas, but their friendship started before they shared a locker room.


And they might correct you if you use the word "friendship."


"He's more like my brother, I would say. I don't see it as a friendship," Boyd explained. "It's crazy because it's been like that since we first met."


Added Hill: "From day one."


They met by coincidence as high schoolers, when each registered for regional Nike Football Training Camps. A native of Gilmer, Texas, Boyd planned to attend the Dallas camp; but when he overslept by mistake, he opted to sign up for the Houston camp happening at a later date.


It was there he and Hill met and immediately connected with one another. Boyd had never before been to Houston but told Hill he'd be back.


"He was like, 'All right.' And I know for a moment he didn't believe me … but then I popped up at his house," Boyd laughed. "He had sent me the address, but we were in high school, he wouldn't think anything of it, and then I just popped up outside.


"I called him. I'm like, 'Bro, I'm outside,' " Boyd continued. "He ran out, and I was like, 'I told you I was coming.' "


The rest is history.


"That's about it – that's been my man since day one," Hill said. "Rocking out together since high school, went to Texas together, and now blessed and fortunate enough to be on the same team with him in the NFL."


When Boyd arrived in Minnesota last April, Hill welcomed him at the airport.


A scene they never truly envisioned happened.