I gotta believe one reason for Hillis' surging popularity is that he sooo different from LeBron. Not to mention Vick, his final foe in stiff-arming his way to the popular vote for the 2012 Madden cover. Some have said he may have gotten votes from PETA members who were hating on Vick. 

ETA members choosing Hillis over Vick is like letting your kid smoke marijuana but not K2. Hillis, after all, is the guy who wears cowboy boots made from ostrich, lizard, python and rattlesnake and counts hunting 400-pound boars as a favorite activity.  
 
But, yeah, he has the that yeoman thing going and appeals to a wide swath of people in the heartland. I think that also applies clean-cut American Idoler Kris Allen, who's from the same town in Arkansas as Hillis.  
More here:  
http://bit.ly/jpbSIK

(p.s. - Hillis should be pictured in the article, not Delhomme)