T Y Hilton

Early years

Hilton was born to Tyrone and Cora Hilton. He attended Miami Springs High School and was a two-sport star in (basketball and football) for the Golden Hawks. He was selected by the Miami Herald as a First Team All-Dade selection in football in his senior year, while also selected as a First Team All-Dade in basketball both his junior and senior years. He averaged 18.7 yards per catch as a senior, with 785 receiving yards accumulated in the season to go with 16 touchdowns. In addition, he played on special teams and was successful as a kick returner, returning four kicks for touchdowns in 10 games.

College career

Hilton committed to Florida International University (FIU) on February 6, 2008. He was scouted by the University of Mississippi, West Virginia University, the University of Florida and FIU. He made the choice to go to FIU over West Virginia the night before National Signing Day, when his son chose FIU six times in a row when he put both an FIU and West Virginia hat in front of him.

2008 season

Hilton was a starter under head coach Mario Cristobal in every year of his enrollment at FIU. In 2008, he returned a punt for a touchdown in his collegiate debut against Kansas on his first touch of the game. Later that year, in a game against Arkansas State, he threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Junior Mertile late in the game after he fumbled the hand off in a reverse play. This play became known in FIU as "The Hilton Heave". He was responsible for 12 touchdowns in his freshman year, scoring them all in five different ways, the first player in the program to do so (seven touchdown receptions, two rushing touchdowns, one passing touchdown, one punt return, and one kickoff return). He also set the FIU single season record for total receiving yards (41 receptions for 1,013 yards), average yards per reception (24.7 yards per reception), and all-purpose yardage (2,162). He finished his freshman season ranked third in the nation in all-purpose yardage per game, with an average of 180.25 yards per contest and was consequently named Sun Belt Freshman Player of the Year.

2009 season

Foreshadowing the start of FIU's 2009 campaign against Alabama, Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban referred to Hilton as "a better offensive player than anybody [from Virginia Tech] that we played against last week". In 2009, Hilton's first touch of the season was a 96-yard kickoff return against Alabama. He paced the team with 57 catches for 632 yards and five touchdowns, as well as returning 22 kickoffs for 633 yards, despite struggling with an injured knee picked up in the fifth game of the season against Western Kentucky. He finished his sophomore season with 1,301 all-purpose yards.

2010 season

In 2010, Hilton got off to a slow start, scoring no touchdowns in the first four games of the season, before returning home to play Western Kentucky and scoring his first touchdown of the season, a rushing touchdown. After a mid-season loss to FAU, Hilton came back strong the next game against Louisiana-Monroe, scoring four separate touchdowns, the first coming on a 95-yard kick return while the others were two passes from quarterback Wesley Carroll and the last a rushing touchdown. Later in the season against Troy, Hilton put up 158 yards rushing in 6 carries with two rushing touchdowns on his way to helping set a school record of 448 total rushing yards in a game.

In FIU's first bowl game appearance in the 2010 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, Hilton returned a kickoff for a touchdown in the second half of the game against Toledo. He was also instrumental in a late hook and lateral play on a 4th-and-17 situation, helping his team get the first down and keeping them alive to eventually set up the winning field goal. He was named the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl MVP for his efforts in helping his team beat Toledo by a score of 34–32. At the end of his junior season, Hilton was honored as Sun Belt Player of the Year, as well as being named to the All-Sun Belt Conference First Team at the wide receiver and return specialist positions. He finished his junior season with 2,089 all-purpose yards, 848 of them on receptions over 59 catches and 282 rushing yards over 30 carries, a personal best.

2011 season

In 2011, Hilton got off to a hot start in his senior season, putting up a school record 283 all-purpose yards in FIU's rout of North Texas. A week later, Hilton was instrumental in FIU's 24–17 upset of Louisville, with 74 and 83 yard catches for touchdowns. He finished that game with seven receptions for 201 yards, breaking his school and personal single game receiving records.

School records

Hilton set several school records at FIU:

2012 season

On April 27, 2012, Hilton was selected in the third round with the 92nd overall pick of the 2012 NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts. He was the 13th wide receiver taken in the draft. In late May 2012, Hilton signed a contract with Indianapolis worth $2.6 million over four years. Hilton was utilized during his rookie season as a punt/kick returner and as a slot receiver for fellow rookie quarterback Andrew Luck. Hilton was the first of Indianapolis's 2012 1st–3rd round draft picks to be signed. During a Week 12 game against the Buffalo Bills, Hilton returned a punt for 75 yards and later caught an eight-yard touchdown pass. The two scores proved to be the difference in a 20–13 victory. Hilton finished the 2012 season with 50 catches for 861 yards and led the team in touchdown catches with seven.

2013 season

Hilton began the 2013 season as the third wide receiver on the depth chart, behind veterans Reggie Wayne and Darrius Heyward-Bey.

Hilton had a career-high day for yardage against the Seattle Seahawks top-ranked pass defense in a Week 5 game. He had five catches for 140 yards and two key touchdown receptions, including a career long 73-yard touchdown. Hilton's scores helped the Colts win the game over the eventual Super Bowl XLVIII champions by a score of 34–28.

Due to the season-ending ACL tear by Reggie Wayne in Week 7 and low production from Darrius Heyward-Bey, Hilton became the number one receiving target for the team. In the Week 9 game against the Colt's AFC South rival Houston Texans that immediately followed Wayne's injury, Hilton's 121 receiving yards and three touchdowns contributed to a fourth quarter comeback. In Week 17, with a pass from Andrew Luck, Hilton recorded his first career 1,000 yard season, and broke his career-high for receiving yards in a game with 155.

In the Colts 45–44 comeback Wild Card Round victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, Hilton recorded 13 receptions for 224 yards (both playoff-franchise records) and three touchdowns. His 224 yards are the third-most by a receiver in a playoff game in NFL history, trailing Anthony Carter's 227-yard game for the Minnesota Vikings in 1988 and Eric Moulds's 240-yard game for the Buffalo Bills in 1999.

2014 season

In a Week 6 matchup against the Houston Texans, Hilton established a new career-high in receiving yards, recording nine receptions for 223 yards and a touchdown. He also finished just 1 yard short of Raymond Berry's franchise-record, set in 1957. In Week 12, Hilton surpassed 1,000 receiving yards for the second consecutive season. Hilton broke his personal receiving yards record in Week 14 against the Cleveland Browns. He caught 10 passes for 150 yards and two touchdowns, bringing his season total yardage to 1,295. Hilton also tied his personal best in touchdown receptions with seven on the season. He was named to his first-career Pro Bowl on December 23. Hilton would miss Week 16 with a hamstring injury, and did not record a catch in Week 17, finishing the season with a career-high 1,345 yards on 82 receptions.

2015 season

On August 13, 2015, Hilton signed a five-year, $65 million extension with the Colts, with $39 million guaranteed. He played in all 16 games in the 2015 season, recording 69 receptions for 1,124 yards and 5 touchdowns. On January 25, 2016, Hilton was named to his second-consecutive Pro Bowl.

2016 season

In the Colts' Week 3 game against the San Diego Chargers, Hilton had eight receptions for 174 yards, including a game winning 63-yard touchdown reception. In Week 5 against the Chicago Bears, Hilton had 10 receptions for 171 yards and a touchdown to help the Colts win 29–23. On December 20, he was named to his third consecutive Pro Bowl. Hilton finished the 2016 season with six touchdowns. He led the NFL in receiving yards for the 2016 season with 1,448. He joined Reggie Wayne, Marvin Harrison, Roger Carr, and Raymond Berry as the only Colts in team history to lead the NFL in receiving yards.

Personal life

T. Y. Hilton and his wife, Shantrell, welcomed a baby girl on November 23, 2014. Hilton scored a touchdown later that day for his daughter against the Jaguars. He also has a son named Eugene Jr. Hilton, whose given name is Eugene, explained how he became known as T. Y.: "My daddy’s name is Tyrone, so ever since I was little, everyone has just used the first two letters of that."