MOBILE, Ala. — Pat Hill didn’t have to say “Go!” He got to say “Woah!” instead.

Last week on the Gulf Coast, the Vikings assistant coach reflected on his experiences at the 77th installment of the Senior Bowl and quickly stated his personal highlight from the first day of practice was seeing the juice brought by American Team players; the college all-stars matched Hill’s energetic nature.

Chalk it up as a two-way street, with players flying around and Hill breaking the game down.

“I told the guys, actually, I said, ‘Look, men, my coaching style is like a mother [bird],’ ” Hill sweetly laughed, recalling his methodical analogy. ” ‘A mother never feeds her infant a full pear, a piece of fruit.’ She does, what? She puts it in her mouth, she breaks it down and then feeds it back to them slowly. I said, ‘There’ll be some things you may already know, but I’m never going to assume you know anything.’

“I’m passionate,” Hill added, smiling at a high-top table along the radio row setup inside the Mobile Convention Center, which served as headquarters for the week-long event. “I talk a little fast the more excited I get, as you can see in this interview. But, I also said, ‘Ask me questions, because closed mouths don’t get fed. So if you’ve got a question, feel free to ask me, particularly in this meeting room, ask me as much as you possibly can.’ That’s my style. I’m hands-on. I love teaching. I love breaking things down.”

Those staples of Hill’s coaching approach make him valuable to Minnesota’s defensive staff and a good choice by the NFL to be one of the first people to instruct guys competing as collegians for the final time.

Hill and Vikings Game Management Coordinator/Passing Game Specialist Ryan Cordell submitted their names to the league, as non-playoff and Wild Card team coaches are allowed, for inclusion in the 2026 Senior Bowl. Both were chosen, like Vikings defensive assistants Imarjaye Albury, Sr., Michael Hutchings and Daronte Jones in 2024. (Hutchings recently was hired to be defensive coordinator for the California Golden Bears, and Jones was named defensive coordinator of the Washington Commanders on Friday.)

Although coaching into February on the Vikings sideline was their primary goal, Cordell and Hill considered their opportunity to coach in the Panini Senior Bowl a blessing. In Cordell’s case, it let him do a little of everything: firstly, direct National Team quarterbacks Sawyer Robertson (Baylor), Diego Pavia (Vanderbilt) and Cole Payton (North Dakota State), the latter of which was named National Player of the Game in the 17-9 win by the American side; strategize the pass game; and in some ways help with quality control, since the staff is smaller than a typical NFL one that can divvy up responsibilities. And for Hill, who completed his first season as the Vikings assistant outside linebackers coach in 2025 after two assisting the defensive line, the all-star coaching gig returned him inside and brought back a fond feeling.

“Honestly, I love it,” Hill said of the lay of the land in Lower Alabama. “I always say doing these [events] — the Senior Bowl, the East-West Shrine (Bowl) two years ago and the pro days — I always say that’s scratching my itch for recruiting. I spent 15 years in college, and being here … I get to scratch that itch.”