GREENVILLE — Kyle Hill’s football career will continue. The former Southside athlete signed Wednesday to play for Hampton University. The Pirates, coached by former East Carolina defensive coordinator Robert Prunty, compete in the FCS ranks in Division I.

Hill spent three seasons in Chocowinity before transferring to J.H. Rose in Greenville for his senior year. As a junior Seahawk, Hill amassed a second-best 886 yards rushing and seven touchdowns.

“I had a good relationship with the coach,” Hill said. His first contact with the Pirates came about three weeks ago. The process moved quickly from there. “They saw mostly speed.

“I’m very excited. This is a special moment for me.”

Offensively, the Seahawk-turned-Rampant excelled against the higher-caliber competition in 3-A/4-A football. He had a breakout game at C.B. Aycock on Sept. 29. He rushed for two touchdowns, caught a third and scored the decisive 2-point conversion in a 50-49 overtime win.

“He’s a major competitor. He wanted to win and he wanted to be on the field,” Rampants coach David Wojtecki said. “We put him in at running back during the C.B. Aycock game and he just went crazy running the ball. We knew that we had to be getting him the ball.”

That wasn’t the only adjustment Hill had to make with his new team. Despite notching five interceptions and a fumble recovery as a junior with the Seahawks, Hill had to get accustomed to playing as a defensive back against teams that passed more than most 1-A teams.

“He really adjusted very well. We do face a lot more teams that throw the ball,” Wojtecki said. “He did a great job at practice. I actually had to coach DBs this year, so he worked extremely hard. A lot of teams didn’t throw at him. That just shows how good he was.”

Hill added: “It was a lot different than at Southside. We had to prepare different and train your body differently. It was fun because of all the passing. At Southside, we really didn’t get that much passing.”

Hill added that he learned more about many of the behind the scenes aspects of the game at Rose: weight-room planning, nutrition and game preparation. Southside is where he said he learned the game itself.

“They taught me mostly everything I know,” he said.

Hill has shown plenty on the field, whether he was wearing teal for the Seahawks or green for the Rampants. However, Southside coach Jeff Carrow believes it’s his work ethic that’s going to take him the farthest.

“We knew all along that he would have the talent to do it,” Carrow said. “He worked hard all the time. He gave us everything he had for the three years he was here. … It’s just the hard work he’s put in with his skill development. He was a running back and a corner for us. He studied the game film and put in hard work for us.”

Hill said he has yet to decide what he wants to study. He signed alongside teammate Jaylen Dowell, who will be headed to Methodist.