New LSU commit Chris Hilton Jr. brings 'Quiet Storm' to Tigers' 2021 class

A theoretically quiet morning felt fitting to Chris Hilton Jr.

Behind the scenes, the highly touted Zachary wide receiver had eyed the day before the Fourth of July to commit to hometown LSU.

As expected, Virginia Beach (Va.) outside linebacker Naquan Brown became the 13th member of the Tigers' 2021 class less than 40 hours earlier.

And many eyes around the recruiting world had already turned to newly crowned Elite 11 MVP quarterback Caleb Williams' imminent announcement Saturday between Oklahoma, LSU and Maryland.

The possibility of a July 10 event and radio broadcast had been discussed in the final days of June.

But behind the scenes, Friday appeared destined to belong to Hilton — whether people realized or, preferably, not.

So, before the holiday fireworks could fill the sky, the 6-foot-2, 175-pound prospect released his video sharing his story and declaring his purple-and-gold college plans.

In his own time, as he always has.

"For me, as everybody knows, I'm quiet and don't say much," he explains. "So I kind of thought I'd keep that going and surprise everybody when it drops."

For as uncommonly unassuming his personality may be for his position and immense talent, he has always had a bit of a flair for dramatic entrances.

Chris Hilton Jr. could not have wasted any less time blessing his parents, former Southern University track standouts Chris Hilton and Cindy Chapper Hilton, with his first in a life full of surprises.

"I had pre-eclampsia, with high blood pressure, so I was seeing a specialist at the women's hospital at the time," Cindy remembers of a visit two months before her due date. "And everything was going fine, until I went in one day, and that's when he talked to me some and ran some tests and said, 'Don't be scared, but you're going to be a mommy tonight.'

"He said, 'I have a daughter, and I know you're an educator and that you have some concerns about him being developmentally delayed, but don't worry about that right now.'"

Chris Jr. was born eight weeks premature and 3 pounds.

He spent 19 days in the neonatal intensive care unit before transitioning into infant occupational therapy and physical therapy.

"He was so tiny," Cindy laughs. "Chris had to do everything, because I was paranoid. I was scared, that being your first child."

Chris Jr. looks at the stories and pictures of his infancy and sees early foundations for optimism, determination and work ethic his family and coaches have continued to foster.

"Of course, when I was born and was only 3 pounds, my mom was worried I would have health problems," he says. "But I fought through that, and then from there, basically I think I learned early that you work for what you want."

He was able to begin daycare at 2-years-old.

And by 4, he was already amazing his parents with athletic feats.

"We had the little plastic whiffle-ball bat and ball," Chris Sr. remembers. "So I said, 'Here, Chris, hold this bat, and I'm gonna throw you the ball.' So I pitched it to him, and, shoot, he hit it on top of the house. So, I think, 'Let me back up a little bit,' and say, 'All right, now, it's coming at you.' And he's just smiling. And he hit it again on top of the house.

"I said, 'Cindy, you've gotta come see this.' So I backed up even further, and he hit it again. So we went ahead and started putting him in sports."

Basketball came first, but Chris Jr.'s sports schedule was quickly filling up.

And the local stands were following suit.

"It's been a journey watching him," Cindy says. "And when he starts dunking in middle school, fans are coming out, saying, 'I can't believe this. No way. He must be older.' And people are coming to the gym just to see if he can really dunk."

Says Chris Sr.: "One word: Blessed. I mean, I could hold him in the palm of one hand, literally. And to see him now, you almost can't believe it."

Chris Jr. looks back on Zachary's instant classic of a Class 5A championship game in 2018 as a pivotal moment.

But, even now, the 27-24 shocking of top-seeded West Monroe feels like a blur.

"We got there, and — I'm not gonna lie — I was pretty nervous," he admits. "As soon as the game started, I was nervous. And then I end up with my first touchdown, and then the game-winning one. But the crazy thing is that if I think about it now, I really don't remember much about it. I just know it happened.

"And the only thing I remember about it was when I got back to the hotel room and checked my phone, and my phone was blowing up. That was about the only part I remember."

Hilton had started high school not even planning to play football.

His first love was basketball, and he was already showing elite potential in track, including an outdoor title-winning 6-foot, 8-inch high jump to wrap up freshman year.

"We're walking back after the meet, and I ask, 'Hey, where's your medal?'" Chris Sr. remembers. "And it's balled up in his bag. I'm saying, 'Dude, why don't you put your medal on like everyone else? You're No. 1 in the state. That means something.'"

Adds Cindy: "I told him, 'I went to state every year, and I never won. But you just won a medal.' And he started to kind of realize the significance and put it on. He's just a different kind of kid."

Notable college programs, including Alabama and Florida, had taken notice of his rare athleticism.

But the sophomore was still trying to find his football stride for an budding Zachary powerhouse returning several key pieces from its second state title in three years.

"It was probably midway through the season his offensive coordinator Kenny Langlois and I brought him into my office and talked to him about the responsibility of a being a high-level athlete in our program," coach David Brewerton remembers. "And even though he had some juniors and seniors in the receiving corps with him who were really good football players, we just wanted him to understand that it was OK to be the guy even though he was the sophomore.

"And if he felt like he could be the guy out there and demand more balls being thrown his way by his play, that it was OK to do that. And I really felt like there was a transition in his game leading into the playoffs his sophomore year in terms of how he was elevating his play."

Hilton began establishing himself as more consistent of a threat for then-junior quarterback Keilon Brown, now at Memphis, and the Broncos' offense throughout the playoffs.

But with a big, physical upperclassman cornerback lined up across from their young pass-catcher, Brewerton and company arrived to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome with quick-footed senior Chandler Whitfield in mind as their best opportunity to exploit a mismatch.

The eventual ULM signee finished with five catches for a game-high 104 yards.

"We exploited that early on in that game, and then it became one of those things where the coordinator's calling down and telling me, 'Hey, Hilton is getting open — a lot,'" Brewerton says. "So it just kind of worked out that way."

Hilton hauled down an acrobatic 11-yard touchdown in the first half, leaping and adjusting to an under-thrown ball.

And, down 24-20 with about two minutes remaining, Zachary was calling its sophomore's number again on third-and-10 from its own 20-yard line.

"They call a screen, and I'm thinking, 'OK,'" he says. "I'm thinking about trying to get what I can and get out of bounds and stop the clock, but the hole opened up, and I took it."

Says Cindy: "I knew at that moment in my heart that something was going to happen. We were losing, and I put my head down and just pray, 'Lord, he's about to be the highlight of this game.' And when I picked my head up, Christopher was running down the field. It just gave me chills."

Chris Jr. allowed his blocks to develop in front of him, then went streaking 80 yards up the sideline to send his team, family and crowd into hysterics.

Meanwhile, he strolled casually back.

"I'll tell you: I didn't understand it when I saw it, and 8 million times watching it later, I still don't understand it," Brewerton says. "He's a high school sophomore, who just put his team up in the state championship game. And he just looks like it's business as usual."

LSU coaches let Brewerton and company know that night that the rising star had a scholarship offer.

"I mean, even just the screen that he scores from 80 yards out, you've got to see a couple things there," Brewerton says. "You've got to see him make a catch, and you've got to see him read blocks and kind of weave his way through there, and then you've got to see the speed on the back end of it. So that play had several different parts to it that really probably turned some people's heads."

Says Chris Jr.: "That was the moment. That's basically how I put myself on everybody's radar."

As much as Brewerton appreciated the talent displayed on the highlight-reel run, the coach may actually beam more about the continued work ethic

"I was excited as the progression took place from that game moving forward," Brewerton says. "It looked like during the offseason and everything else that he was going to make a concerted effort to elevate every aspect of his game from the blocking part of being a wide receiver, being physical, to the route-running, to just everything it takes to be an elite wide receiver and not just a talented guy that can go make some acrobatic plays.

"So I think that's been the major progress there, but people got to see a glimpse of it that night."

While he didn't necessarily speak a lot about it, Chris Jr. is driven by a quietly fiery passion for greatness.

As ahead of schedule as he had been his entire life, his parents taught him to never let up or settle for less than his potential.

"I've always told him that even with him being as good as he is, there's always somebody out there that's better, so continue to work like you're at the bottom," Cindy explains. "Somebody could take his spot at any time, so don't ever get comfortable. You have to continue to work hard every single day.

"I hope he keeps that in mind, because he is quiet. That's why my nickname for him is 'Quiet Storm.' He'll sneak up on you."

Chris Jr. showed continued improvement in track, where he won an indoor state championship in February 2019 with a 7-foot high jump that led the nation at the time.

And he looked forward to making similar strides in football during the coming months.

Instead, a Lisfranc injury threw him his biggest curveball since childhood.

"The thing was: Basically you're just coming into your own, right? And then you have that setback," Chris Sr. says. "We started doing more research on it and see all the athletes — even athletes at LSU, and they're receivers — that had had the surgery and realize, 'He's gonna be fine. It's just gonna take time.'

"So I felt better, but now you've got to tell that to him. And he's got to understand that and trust that foot."

A pair of surgeries and a rehabilitation process that took half the calendar year simultaneously stoked the young athlete's passion for football and shook his confidence.

Chris Jr. had lived on his own, accelerated schedule as long as he could remember.

Now, he had to wait. And work. And finally trust.

The Hiltons credit Brewerton and Zachary wide receivers coach Dru Nettles for allowing their son to take his time doing so and not rush back.

"It was rough on him because he's used to being able to call on that foot, and it answers," Chris Sr. says. "But going through that, it's not there. It took time for it to come back, so he had some struggles with the confidence part of it.

"And one day I went in his room and said, 'Dude, your foot's healed. Once you decide you're ready to use it, you're gonna be back. And he did and had his breakout game. He was kind of hesitant on going full-speed on it. But once he realized, 'OK, it's healed, and it can do what I need it to do,' he was coming back to his old self during that last season."

Local oral surgeon Dr. Baker Vinci, himself a former pole vaulter, tried chatting with Chris Jr. about sports during a recent visit regarding his wisdom teeth.

"He asked, 'Do you have any scholarships?'" Cindy recounts. "Chris just told him, 'Yeah.' He didn't tell him he had 20-something offers or that he had an offer from LSU. He was telling Chris he used to pole-vault, and Chris said he high-jumped. He asked if he'd ever jumped 6-foot-8, and Chris said, 'Yeah.' He didn't say he'd jumped 7 feet.

"So, I'm saying, 'Actually, he has offers from LSU, Alabama, Georgia," and Chris just says, 'I'm going to LSU,' and leaves it at that."

But Chris Sr. and Cindy have seen their oldest son's own brand of mild-mannered excitement during the past few weeks.

Chris Jr. hadn't taken to social media any more than usually.

He had only posted to Twitter three times since the the beginning of June — all three photos, the most recent of which a prom picture last Saturday. His 13 retweets during those five weeks mostly consisted of motivational messages, Bible verses and excitement over rapper J. Cole, his favorite artist.

And he wasn't bouncing off the walls at home.

"It's a very exciting time," Chris Sr. says. "He's even getting been excited about it, and he doesn't get excited about much... He just talks a little more, asks a few more questions. When we were first talking about waiting on the video until next week, 'Why? Let's do it this week. I want to be able to tweet it out.'"

Chimes in Cindy: "He's definitely excited. But jumping around and all that? Nah ah. Maybe (Friday). We'll see. We'd have to get a video of that!"

The Hiltons love the family focus LSU coach Ed Orgeron and wide receivers coach Mickey Joseph have displayed throughout the process.

Chris Jr. says the nearby program always felt like home and provided an opportunity to branch out more on his own while still being close enough for his parents to visit for games almost every Saturday.

And he watched the Tigers' record-setting offense intently this fall with some excitement, too.

"It was a lot of late nights just up thinking about it and couldn't go to sleep," he says. "Since last month, I narrowed it down and talked to my parents about it. It just felt like home and a place that was right around the corner. It seemed like a perfect fit.

"And I would say the coaching staff there and how they took care of me. And I also visualize myself in that offense making plays."

So, Friday morning, Chris Jr. announced his commitment to LSU.

On his own schedule.

And when he makes the short trip to Baton Rouge next year, he doesn't have any intention of wasting any time making his presence known.

"I see myself coming in and making an impact instantly," Chris Hilton Jr. says. "Basically I just want to be the best player I can be and be a playmaker for my team."