By Ken Jackson
For the News-Gazette

Eight years ago, Justin Hilton was chasing opponents on the football field with his Harmony High teammates.

Many of them were headed for the end zone – the Longhorns were winless in the school’s 2004 inaugural season.

Hilton often wished he was inside on the hardwood, playing basketball.

Fast forward to the weekend of April 29 when Hilton, now a veteran of the Harmony, Butte Community College and Indiana State gridirons, was signed as a free agent by the Cincinnati Bengals after the NFL Draft ended.

Hilton, a receiver, has worked out the past two weeks at the Bengals OTAs (optional team activities) at Paul Brown Stadium. He hopes to be the next Osceola County athlete to make an NFL roster, following players such as St. Cloud’s Brent Fullwood (Green Bay) and Osceola’s  Markus Paul (Chicago) and Tito Paul (Denver).

Hilton was at Harmony’s spring football game last Friday, talking with his former coaches and accepting congratulations for becoming the first Longhorn to reach the NFL.

“It’s an awesome experience, something you dream about,” he said. “The OTAs are great because it gives you a chance to learn from guys who have been in the league five years.”

Before the draft, Hilton showcased his skills and his 6-3, 195-pound frame at a Pro Day at Indiana State and in private workouts for the Bengals and the Pittsburgh Steelers. He said he had word from a few teams that he was on their draft boards, and to watch the later rounds of the draft for his name to be called, which he did with his family in St. Cloud.

“We just watched Saturday happen,” he said. “During the day I got a few texts and calls from coaches telling me to be ready. Then the last pick came, and maybe two minutes later I got a call from the Bengals.”

He said that during that 0-for-2004 Harmony season, he never imagined he’d one day be suiting up in NFL colors.

“I was a basketball guy, and that was my first year,” Hilton said. “I was just drawn to the physical part of the game.”

In 2005, he was switched from defensive back to receiver – a fateful move by Coach Tyler Anderson’s staff. The Longhorns won 12 games in Hilton’s junior and senior seasons combined, and he developed a nose for the end zone, with 19 touchdown catches and 60 receptions that totaled 1,159 yards.

Those numbers didn’t bring offers from the major college programs, so he headed to Butte Community College in Oroville, Calif., and helped lead the Roadrunners to the 2008 National Junior College championship. From there he landed at Indiana State and again became a scoring machine (72 catches, 1,224 yards, 11 TDs in 2010-11).

Despite arriving in Cincinnati as a free agent rather than a draft pick, Hilton refuses to acknowledge that he is a longshot to make the squad.

“I think I have a good shot to make it,” he said. “Maybe I’ll come in and make a contribution on special teams. Plus I know that they have four and five-wide packages, so I’m setting myself up to be an impact player in the preseason.”

Scouting reports from workouts he participated in say Hilton has both the speed to stretch defenses and the vertical ability to out-jump defenders.

“As a receiver in the league you have to be ready to make a defense pay when they stack the box (against the run) or when they try to play man on the outside,” Hilton said, sounding like a grizzled NFL veteran already.

Former Orlando Predators head coach Jay Gruden is the Bengals offensive coordinator which gives Hilton something else to be excited about.

“My grandparents have been (Predators) season ticket holders for a long time, so this is pretty cool,” he said.