Nick Hill (born April 5, 1985) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach and former

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

. He is the head football coach at his alma mater,

Southern Illinois University Southern Illinois University is a system of public universities in the southern region of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its headquarters is in Carbondale, Illinois. Board of trustees The university is governed by the nine member SIU Board of T ...

. Hill was signed by the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in 2008. He then played professionally in the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

(AFL) and in the

af2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football r ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

at Southern Illinois.

Early life

Hill attended Du Quoin High School where he was a three-year starter in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

. He played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

as well. As a junior, he was a First-team All-State selection in basketball, averaging 26.7 points, 6.0

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

and 2.4 assists. As a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

, he was a First-team All-State selection again after averaging 22.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 3.0 steals. In football, he was a First-team All-State and First-team All-Conference selection after passing for 1,451 yards, 19

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

s and one

interception In Ball game, ball-playing Competitive sport, competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for ...

, and also rushing for 543 yards, and 11 touchdowns. He became the school's first 4,000-career yard passer in 35 years, the first since former major league

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

Don Stanhouse Donald Joseph Stanhouse (born February 12, 1951) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who had an eight-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career (1972–1980) with a brief comeback in 1982. He pitched for the Texas Rangers and Balt ...

in 1968.

College career

Hill originally attended

Western Kentucky University Western Kentucky University (WKU) is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States. It was founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a few decades earlier. It operates regional campuses in Glas ...

where he played on the

team and averaged 1.7 points-per-game in 23 games. He then transferred to

where he was three-year

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

and two-year starter on the football team. Hill

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

during his first season at Southern Illinois after transferring from Western Kentucky. As a redshirt sophomore, he played in four games, completing 16-of-20 passes for 288 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed the ball nine times for 102 yards and one touchdown. As a junior, he started all 13 games, and ranked second in the

conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

and seventh in the nation in passing efficiency (156.7). He completed 121-of-196 passes (61.7%) for 1,721 yards, 15 touchdowns and four interceptions. He was the team's third-leading rusher with 91 carries for 382 yards and six touchdowns. He was a First-team Gateway Conference All-Academic and CoSIDA/''

ESPN The Magazine ''ESPN The Magazine'' was an American monthly sports magazine published by the ESPN sports network in Bristol, Connecticut. The first issue, with the cover line "NEXT.," was published on March 11, 1998 (cover date March 23, 1998), and featured K ...

'' Academic All-District V. As a senior, he led the conference in passing yards-per-game with 226.8, total offense with 252.3 and ranked second in passing efficiency (167.1), which was also third in the nation. He set school single season records in passing; yards (3,175), touchdowns (28), completions (258) and attempts (361). He was named a First-team All-Conference, Gateway All-Academic and ''Sports Network'' All-America honorable mention. He was honored as Gateway Offensive Player of the Week, twice, and ''College Sporting News'' Offensive Player of the Week, once. He finished sixth in the voting for the

Walter Payton Award The Walter Payton Award is awarded annually to the most outstanding offensive player in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) of college football as chosen by a nationwide panel of media and college sports ...

, given to the top player in the

Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Bowl Subdivision (F ...

. He also set a school single-game record with 436 passing yards at

Northern Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

, and passed for 200 yards or more in nine games. He ranked second on the team with 121 carries for 357 yards and four touchdowns. For his career, Hill completed 394-of-577 passes (68.3%) for 5,184 yards, 46 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, while rushing 221 times for 841 yards (3.8 avg) and 11 touchdowns. He led Southern Illinois to a 21–6 record as a starter. He also played in the Texas vs. The Nation All-Star Bowl. While in college, he majored in

Special Education Special education (also known as special-needs education, aided education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, and SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates their individual di ...

Professional career

Hill went unselected in the

2008 NFL draft The 2008 NFL draft was the 73rd NFL draft, annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York (state), New York ...

, however on April 27, 2008, Hill signed a three-year contract as an

with the

. During Training Camp, Hill competed with

Caleb Hanie Caleb Jeffrey Hanie (born September 11, 1985) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback. He played college football at Colorado State Rams football, Colorado State and was signed by the Chicago Bears as an undraf ...

for the Bears' third quarterback spot on the depth chart behind

Kyle Orton Kyle Raymond Orton (born November 14, 1982) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback. He played college football for Purdue, where he started four straight bowl games. He was selected by the Chicago Bears in the f ...

and

Rex Grossman Rex Daniel Grossman III (born August 23, 1980) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons, most notably with the Chicago Bears. Grossman played college football for ...

. The Bears chose to keep Hanie as their practice squad quarterback and Hill was waived by the Bears on July 29. After not playing in the

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, Hill joined

, a professional

arena football Arena football is a variety of gridiron football designed to be played indoors. The game is played on a smaller field than American or Canadian football, designed to fit in the same surface area as a standard North American ice hockey rink, an ...

league. On January 15, 2009, he was assigned to the

Rio Grande Valley Dorados The Rio Grande Valley Dorados were a professional arena football team. They began playing in 2004 as an expansion member of af2, the minor league to the Arena Football League. They played their home games at Obra Homes Field at Dodge Arena in ...

. Hill caught on with the

Orlando Predators The Orlando Predators were a professional arena football team based in Orlando, Florida and member of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team was most recently owned by Orlando Predators LLC, a company owned by David A. Siegel, and played it ...

for the 2010 AFL season. He would become the starter midway through the season, and be the starter for the entire 2011 season. He was then set to join the

Tampa Bay Storm The Tampa Bay Storm were a professional arena football team based in Tampa, Florida, US. It played in the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally the team was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and operated as the Pittsburgh Gladiators. The ...

in 2012 until he was signed by the Packers. On January 20, 2012, Hill joined the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

and wore jersey #17. On May 23, 2012, he was released by the Packers. He played for the Storm in 2012 after being released by the Packers. In April 2013, Hill signed with the

San Antonio Talons The San Antonio Talons were a professional arena football team based in San Antonio, Texas. They played in the Arena Football League (AFL). Their home arena was the Alamodome, following their relocation to San Antonio for the 2012 season. The ...

to replace injured quarterback John Dutton.

Coaching career

Hill was the head coach for the Carbondale Terriers in

Carbondale, Illinois Carbondale is a city in Jackson County, Illinois, United States, within the Southern Illinois region informally known as "Little Egypt". As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 25,083, making it the most po ...

for one season in 2013. On January 13, 2014, Hill was announced as the QB coach and co-offensive coordinator for the Southern Illinois Salukis. On December 1, 2015, it was announced Hill would be the Salukis interim head coach after the firing of Dale Lennon. On January 4, 2016, SIU removed the interim tag and made Hill their next head football coach.

Head coaching record

College

High school

References

External links

Southern Illinois profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Nick 1985 births Living people American football quarterbacks American men's basketball players Chicago Bears players Orlando Predators players Rio Grande Valley Dorados players San Antonio Talons players Southern Illinois Salukis football coaches Southern Illinois Salukis football players Tampa Bay Storm players Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball players High school football coaches in Illinois People from Du Quoin, Illinois Coaches of American football from Illinois Players of American football from Illinois Basketball players from Illinois