Hall of Fame
Amos Hill was an integral member of the Rattler Football coaching staff under Rudy Hubbard, tutoring FAMU’s defensive lines. During Hill’s tenure with the FAMU staff, the Rattlers boasted one of the nation’s top defensive units, ranking number one in total defense (149.6 ypg) and rushing defense (48.6 ypg) in 1978 – the year of the inaugural NCAA Division I-AA national
championship.
That unit was a major reason for FAMU’s last perfect season: 11-0 in 1977; the 1978 national
championship (12-1), and that unit was virtually intact for the 1979 campaign, during which they turned in a collective Hall of Fame performance in the 16-13 upset of the University of Miami. Hill’s reign over the defensive line produced two FAMU Sports Hall of Fame nose tackles: Harrell Oliver (1976-79), the anchor of those championship defenses in 1977 and 1978, and a key member of that fabled 1979 unit, and R.C. Eason (1980-83), who had two of three highest single season quarterback sack totals (18 in 1983, 13 in 1981) in school history.
He also had a hand in developing the Rattler defensive front, which produced such luminaries as FAMU Sports Hall of Famer Alonzo Johnson (1980-83), who still holds the single-season sack record of 20, set in 1982, along with ends Tony Hayes and the Grady Brothers, Jeff and Frank, plus tackles Algie Hendrieth, Willie Spencer and Bruce Norflee.
