Chris Perkins: Dolphins TE Julian Hill is a man on a mission ... to help kids

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Among all the friendships and relationships that Dolphins tight end Julian Hill has, the ones with the kids at His House Children’s Home, a faith-based foster care center not far from the team’s facility in Miami Gardens, are near the top of the list.

This is one reason that I tip my hat to Hill, the hard-working third-year player who was signed by the Dolphins as an undrafted free agent in 2023 out of Campbell (N.C.) University. He’s earned that tribute through his dedication on and off the field.

Hill first went to His House last year around Christmas. One of the girls told him they don’t like talking to adults who volunteer their time because they never come back.

“I made a promise to them that I’ll make sure we have good relationships,” Hill said. “So yeah, we have great relationships. We’re friends. They’re my homies.”

Just as importantly, Hill, 25, can relate to the kids’ plight.

Hill grew up in Fayetteville, N.C., with a mother whose drug use was so bad he was often homeless. When they had a roof over their heads it was frequently inadequate. Once it was a roach-infested trailer shared by 14 people. Before that, the roof over their head was a minivan that eventually had its windows busted out by someone with a baseball bat.

Hill was eventually adopted by Shannon and Paul Schaeffer. Shannon was a close friend of his mother from high school. Hill has no hard feelings toward his biological mother.

“My mom, man, what she went through and what she was dealing with, she did a great job explaining, telling and just keeping me away from that,” he said. “No matter what she was going through on a daily, she kept me away from it.”

Hill’s hard childhood is one reason why he sponsored about 25 kids two weeks ago when the Dolphins went to Charlotte to play the Carolina Panthers. He paid for the at-risk kids to attend the game and met with them afterward.

Hill also works with Values Matter, a movement that promotes qualities such as responsibility and respect, and, back home in Fayetteville, the Two-Six Project, which provides “exposure, resources and opportunities to marginalized youth through intentional programming and scholarship.”

To Hill, it’s about more than giving back. It’s about building relationships. Hill doesn’t wear his Dolphins jersey to these appearances. He wants to be relatable to the kids. He requires the same from teammates who might join him on such ventures. Hill said sometimes kids don’t even know they’re NFL players until they tell them.

“I think it’s important for us, especially as players that are in the position where they can’t believe, the only way to make them believe is to let them know that I’m just like you,” he said.

On the field, Hill is mostly anonymous. He’s a blocking, or in-line tight end, but he’s been utilized more as a receiver recently. His nine receptions for 76 yards are sixth on the team. He’s set to surpass last year’s total of 12 receptions for 100 yards, and that surpassed his rookie year total of six receptions for 48 yards. He’s becoming a complete player.

“I think really the story there is that just shows a lot of mental toughness and fortitude on his part, because he doesn’t listen to what people said,” tight ends coach Jon Embree said. “I’m sure all along the way, thousands of people told him, ‘You can’t,’ and ‘You’ll never,’ ” Embree said. “And he doesn’t listen. He knows what he’s capable of. He knows his heart.”

Hill was best known as a rookie for his knack for penalties. He’s moved past that trait.

“He does awesome with whatever is asked in terms of, he’s either executing it or trying to do it the right way and the mistake is generally correctible, so there’s always growth,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said. “For me, he’s a different Julian Hill every year in a good way.”

By the way, Hill’s hardships growing up weren’t limited to his family life. He was a quarterback in high school but he tore his ACL as a sophomore and as a senior. He missed his entire senior season, which is the reason he attended Campbell, located in Buies Creek, N.C., located near Research Triangle (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill), as a priority walk-on. At Campbell, he was switched to tight end. Hill was awarded a scholarship as a sophomore. But it required hard work.

“I had never put my hand in the dirt, never ran a route in my life,” Hill said.

Campbell, and its community relations team, is where Hill got his spark for community engagement and working with kids.

“Campbell, we’re in the middle of nowhere,” Hill said. “You just see a number of cows and whatnot. So, those kids, man, it’s hard for them to see anything. We had a chance a couple times to go out there and speak to some kids at local high schools.”

Hill loves being a NFL player. But I get the sense he loves helping kids just as much, and perhaps more. Why does he do it?

“Because people need to see a light,” he said. “People need to see something so they can believe in something. A lot of times when I was young, a lot of times I didn’t have nothing to look up to. I didn’t have nothing to see. ... So that’s why I love to go to these shelters, and I love to go to these foster care (centers) and speak to these kids, and they can touch me, they can feel me, they can talk to me. I can laugh just like they laugh. I bleed just like they bleed.”