Austin Hill dives for a 30-yard touchdown catch in last season’s opener vs. Toledo. Photo by Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Arizona Wildcats wide receiver Austin Hill, coming off a brilliant sophomore season, suffered a torn ACL in practice Wednesday, endangering his 2013 season.

Coach Rich Rodriguez confirmed the news after Saturday’s spring game.

Hill (6-3, 210) caught 81 passes for 1,364 yards last season, earning second-team All-Pac-12 honors and tying the school record with 11 receiving touchdowns. Hill, known for his hands and acrobatic catches, seemingly was in line to make a run at some kind of All-America honors.

“It just makes me sick, because he was such a great player. But he still will be,” Rodriguez said.

“I don’t know when his time frame is to return, but he’ll be back bigger and stronger with the way technology is today and all that. I really felt bad for him. I know Austin is a tough, strong guy, and he’ll bounce back.”

Rodriguez said Hill will undergo surgery as soon as possible, and there is no further damage to the knee beyond the ACL.

Hill redshirted as a freshman in 2010, so he would lose this year of eligibility and be a senior in 2014. Hill, the son of former NFL tight end David Hill, attended the spring game, wearing his jersey and sweats.

Rodriguez has said several times this spring that receiver is the team’s deepest position, but this is still a significant blow to the offense, which also lost wideout Dan Buckner to graduation.

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Matt Scott (right) and Austin Hill celebrate the New Mexico Bowl victory. Photo by Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

ALBUQUERQUE — Kyle Quinn took a knee and bowed his head.

There was chaos everywhere. Teammates running around, screaming. Fans on the field. Season over. It all happened so fast, so improbably. It was overwhelming.

One moment Arizona was trailing Nevada by 10 points, with less than two minutes to go in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl, and the Wolf Pack possessing the ball at the UA 7.

But here were the Wildcats, celebrating as they have not celebrated all season, the clock having hit 0:00 at University Stadium with Arizona having won 49-48, rejoicing in its most unlikely victory since Ortege Jenkins somersaulted into the end zone on a cold Seattle night at Husky Stadium in 1998.

Quinn, a senior center and a team captain, was a solitary figure near the sideline, on a knee, trying to make sense of the final two minutes:

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Ka’Deem Carey has reason to celebrate. He’s Arizona’s first first-team all-conference running back in 11 years. Photo by Matt Kartozian-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona Wildcats sophomore Ka’Deem Carey has been selected first-team All-Pac-12, becoming the program’s first all-conference running back since 2001.

Carey, the nation’s leading rusher at 146.4 yards per game, was selected to the first team along with Oregon senior Kenjon Barner. The Pac-12 is loaded with running backs this season, as UCLA’s Johnathan Franklin (ninth nationally in rushing) and Stanford’s Stepfan Taylor (16th) were second team.

Arizona senior Matt Scott was the second-team selection at quarterback behind Oregon redshirt freshman Marcus Mariota.

The Wildcats have never had a first-team all-conference quarterback since joining the Pac-1o in 1978. Scott is the fourth UA quarterback to make the second team, joining Tom Tunicliffe (1983), Keith Smith (1998) and Willie Tuitama (2008).

Arizona sophomore receiver Austin Hill was selected All-Pac-12 second team at another very competitive position.

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Austin Hill dives for a 30-yard touchdown catch in the opener vs. Toledo. Photo by Matt Kartozian-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona sophomore Austin Hill is one of the 10 semifinalists for the Biletnikoff Award, given to the nation’s top wide receiver.

Hill has 62 receptions for 1,023 yards and seven touchdowns, ranking 11th nationally with 102.3 yards per game. Hill has the sixth-most single-season receiving yards in school history.

Beyond the numbers, he routinely makes difficult catches — including the full lay-out for a touchdown vs. Toledo — and the stiff-arm en route to the end zone against Washington.

The three finalists will be announced next Monday, with the winner announced Dec. 6.

USC’s Marqise Lee is going to win this thing, right?

(As a voter for the Biletnikoff Award, I did include Hill on my ballot for the 10 semifinalists, but I can’t see where he would make the top three.)

Here are the 10 semifinalists:

Tavon Austin, West Virginia
Stedman Bailey, West Virginia
Brandin Cooks, Oregon State
Austin Franklin, New Mexico State
Cobi Hamilton, Arkansas
Austin Hill, Arizona
Deandre Hopkins, Clemson
Marqise Lee, Southern California
Quinton Patton, Louisiana Tech
Terrance Williams, Baylor

Arizona Wildcats receiver Austin Hill caught the ball about 10 yards down field, turned and saw one defender standing between him and the goal line.

Sorry, Sean Parker.

In a move that the team’s video crew will want to show in super slo-mo for the season-ending highlight video, Hill delivered Arizona’s best stiff arm of the year, planting his left hand on the side of Parker’s helmet and driving him to the turf.

Hill carried on, diving into the end zone past the would-be tackle of Washington safety Travis Feeney for a 17-yard touchdown on the first drive of the second half. That gave the Wildcats a 38-17 lead en route to a 52-17 victory over the Huskies.

“I haven’t stiff-armed anybody since high school,” Hill said.

“It’s been a while since I had that feeling. Natural instinct. … I just wanted to get into the end zone.”

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Arizona’s Matt Scott gets ready to fire the winning touchdown pass in overtime vs. Toledo. Photo by Matt Kartozian-US PRESSWIRE

The Arizona football team is better than it should be, not as good as it could be.

The Wildcats — part encouraging, part frustrating, rarely boring — suffered their third consecutive loss last Saturday, leaving them at 3-3 overall at the midway point of the regular season.

Which is basically on par with preseason expectations.

Are you a glass-half-full fan?

Rich Rodriguez took over a 4-8 team that lost four NFL players, including quarterback Nick Foles, upset No. 18 Oklahoma State and, amid an injury crisis, came within a play or two of beating ranked Oregon State and Stanford. With a smile from the football gods, the Cats would be 5-1.

Or are you a glass-half-empty fan?

The Wildcats are disappointing because they haven’t made a play in crunch time in the past two weeks, a leaky defense has little chance of getting better in the second half of the season, and Arizona will run out of gas before getting to bowl eligibility. Wait till next season. Or maybe 2014.

As the Wildcats sit out this weekend before resuming play against Washington on Oct. 20, let’s take stock at the season’s halftime.

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Austin Hill after being hit by Oregon’s John Boyett last season. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Arizona Wildcats receiver Austin Hill doesn’t remember much from last year’s game against Oregon, which tends to happen after being knocked out.

But he’s seen the game tape.

The moment in question came early in third quarter. Hill went up for a pass and as he was falling down, Ducks safety John Boyett came crashing in with a shoulder-to-helmet hit. Hill’s head slammed into the Arizona Stadium turf.

Hill was motionless on the field for about 30 seconds having suffered a concussion. He was able to walk off the field with assistance.

There was no penalty on the play — that didn’t sit well with coach Mike Stoops, remember? — but Hill said this week that the hit was “clean.”

“My head hit the ground pretty hard,” he said. “I think it was the ground that caused more of the damage anyway. I had a lot of whiplash.”

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Great catch Austin Hill! #beardown

— Andre Iguodala (@mindofAI9) September 2, 2012

Austin Hill says he didn’t think he fully extended for a touchdown grab in the second quarter against Toledo.

He might have changed his mind after he went home following Saturday night’s 24-17 overtime victory against Toledo and saw himself on ESPN as the No. 3 college football play of the day (see photo sequence below).

Hill made the first touchdown of the Rich Rodriguez era a spectacular one, launching himself in the end zone to haul in a 30-yard touchdown pass from Matt Scott. He caught the pass on his fingertips, then quickly gathered control against his chest as he hit the ground.

He said he was so excited after the catch, he didn’t get a chance to see the replay on the mammoth video board in the opposite end zone.

Hill had been lined up in the slot to the right of the formation and ran past safety Jermaie Robinson.

“Matt saw me open,” Hill said. “I thought he had overthrown me, but I told myself I was just going to dive for it, make something happen.”

Hill’s catch gave Arizona a 10-7 lead with 12:04 to play in the second quarter. He added a 32-yard catch later in the quarter but lost a fumble at the end of the play.

Hill, a sophomore, ended up with seven catches for a career-high 139 yards. Senior Dan Buckner gave the Cats a second triple-digit receiver with 116 yards on 10 catches.

Hill (6-3, 211) said he wasn’t surprised at the success of the passing game, which produced 387 yards.

“I knew we were going to come out and throw,” he said. “It’s the job of the receivers to try to take advantage of as many passes as we were going to get to get as many yards as we did.”

Photos by Matt Kartozian-US PRESSWIRE

Austin Hill after being hit by Oregon's John Boyette last season. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Every scrimmage he misses, every contact drill he can only watch from the sideline, are opportunities slipping through the hands of Arizona Wildcats receiver Austin Hill.

The redshirt sophomore hasn’t been able to do much in the first spring under head coach Rich Rodriguez while most of the rest of the teammates are trying to gulp down new schemes and impress the new staff.

“The timing,” Hill said, “is not good.”

Hill, trying to build off a promising 2011 season, said he is having trouble moving his left arm, which is related to neck problems that popped up in the offseason, an issue that might be related to the huge hit he took last year against Oregon on Sept. 24.

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Austin Hill celebrates catching a two-point conversion pass against USC. Photo by Kelvin Kuo-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona Wildcats receiver Austin Hill remembers going up for the ball, barely touching the ball … and then nothing.

This was the Oregon game on Sept. 24. He was trying to bring down a deep, high pass from Nick Foles, when Ducks safety John Boyett lowered his shoulder into Hill’s helmet, slamming the redshirt freshman onto the turf.

“The next thing I remember is sitting on the bench,” Hill said. “Yeah, that’s probably going to be a permanent gap.”

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