IOWA CITY, Iowa — It may take a village to raise a quarterback, but trimming the advisors in that village to a small circle is critical for new Iowa starter Deacon Hill.

Among those offering opinions to Hill are former Hawkeyes starting quarterback Cade McNamara, who suffered a torn ACL on Saturday and will miss the rest of the season, as well as three-year starter Spencer Petras (2020-22), who works for the program as a non-student while his shoulder heals from a torn labrum and torn rotator cuff sustained last November. There’s also analyst Keller Chryst; the nephew of former Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst played quarterback at Stanford and Tennessee and was with Hill in Madison last year. Finally, there is senior special assistant Jon Budmayr and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Brian Ferentz.

Advertisement

“I’m taking advice from all of them,” Hill said Tuesday. “It’s definitely a big help.”

To head coach Kirk Ferentz, that’s too many voices surrounding his new starting quarterback.

“That village might be too big. You don’t need five guys to coach one guy,” Ferentz said. “When it gets down to it, the voices are pretty much filtered out. The biggest thing is him just trying to take in what he needs to take in.”

No matter what is said to Hill, it’s up to the sophomore to process the information and not let it overwhelm him as he prepares for his first college start. That’s easier written than accomplished, but the strong-armed quarterback came through in his first real action during Saturday night’s 26-16 win against Michigan State.

Although Hill was 11 of 27 passing for 164 yards, one touchdown and one interception, Iowa receivers did him no favors with five official drops. To improve their chemistry, Hill has spent extra time each day after practice throwing routes to receivers Diante Vines, Seth Anderson and Nico Ragaini. If Hill was agitated over last week’s drops, the feeling subsided by the time he left the complex on Saturday.

“In basketball when a shooter is missing, you don’t tell him to stop shooting; you tell him to keep shooting,” Hill said. “So that doesn’t affect how we are going to do things. I trust them 100 percent to catch the ball, and they trust me to throw it. And so I’m gonna keep throwing them the ball no matter what because they’re my guys.”

Growing up in Santa Barbara, Calif., Hill was born into an athletic family, headlined by his oldest sister. Now 31, Sami Hill is an assistant water polo coach at Michigan, but seven years ago, she served as goalie for the gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic water polo team.

Due to the prevalence of the Zika virus in Brazil in 2016, Deacon and one of his sisters stayed home instead of watching Sami perform at the Olympics.

Advertisement

“I was very mad and upset,” Hill said. “It was great to watch it on TV. But obviously I wish I could have been there.”

His mother, Cindy Battistone Hill, played basketball at BYU and ranks eighth in school history with 1,644 points. His father, Pe’a Hill, also played basketball in American Samoa.

At 6 feet 3 and 258 pounds, Hill is built like a buffalo, to which Ferentz said, “I’m guessing it will be a challenge to tackle (Hill).” Asked whether he’s the best athlete in his family, Hill quipped, “I’m probably lacking a little behind.” But he raved about the athletic accomplishments of his oldest sister and mother and called them both “studs.”

Hill also played basketball, but football became his lead sport even before he landed the starting job in high school. Budmayr, then a Wisconsin assistant, offered Hill a scholarship, and that two-way relationship served both after the quarterback entered the transfer portal.

“Loyalty is big for me,” Hill said. “I was very loyal to him, and I wanted to play for him. He was my first offer. I decided I wanted to go there after one visit. I committed to Wisconsin before I was a starter in high school as well. So he obviously having that belief from him and me was the biggest thing in the world to me.”

Hill played in only three games as a high school senior because of the pandemic. In 2021, he redshirted at Wisconsin. Then in 2022, he became the Badgers’ third-team quarterback. When Paul Chryst was fired midway through the season, Hill decided to transfer.

“I didn’t really know what to expect when I entered the portal,” Hill said. “Obviously, I wanted to try and get back to the FBS level. It wasn’t looking like it was going to — which I was fine with — I just wanted to play ball again.”

Hill committed to FCS program Fordham, but Brian Ferentz called Hill before he enrolled in classes. The Hawkeyes lost Petras to graduation and backups Alex Padilla and Carson May to the portal. At that point, McNamara already had committed, but Iowa needed at least one other quarterback to take snaps that spring. By then, Budmayr was an offensive analyst at Iowa.

Advertisement

“Coach Bud, I guess, gave them a little info on me,” Hill said. “So I was blessed with the opportunity to come here after that. Once they called, I knew it was a done deal. I’ve always wanted to play for Coach Bud but didn’t have the opportunity to play at Wisconsin with him. So it was a no-brainer coming here.”

Hill played sparingly in Iowa’s first four games this season, then nearly the entire game against Michigan State after McNamara’s injury. So far, Hill has completed 15 of 35 passes for 164 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Hill was blessed with a big arm and admittedly likes to showcase it with throws down the field. The power impresses his teammates, including running back Leshon Williams. “One of these games it’s gonna be a throw you all will be wowed by,” Williams said.

“I’d rather it come in like a bullet just because it’s like a quick like, bang-bang, catch tuck,” tight end Erick All said.

Hill understands he needs to alter his velocity; a couple of his fastballs on Saturday were more than the distance and route required. That touch will come with more repetitions with his teammates, he said.

The offensive playbook is a bit more open now with Hill in the lineup. McNamara injured his right quad during training camp, which allowed Hill to rep with the first team for multiple weeks. But that injury prevented the Hawkeyes from running bootlegs, rollouts and even quarterback sneaks with McNamara. Now, those plays are back in the fold.

“I wouldn’t say there’s much of a difference other than the experience level that Cade had versus Deacon,” center Logan Jones said. “He did a great job. I just say the biggest thing for him right now working in is just his confidence and believing in himself because I know everybody else believes in him.”

If there is a noticeable change between the two, it’s leadership style. McNamara carried a vocal, commanding presence. Hill is laid-back and relaxed. It’s undetermined whether that approach will benefit the Hawkeyes or not. Either way, that’s what he’ll display at practice and during games.

Advertisement

“They’re just natural-born leaders,” Williams said. “I feel like Deacon does a very good job leading the huddle just as well as Cade. At the end of the day, he’s a football player, a quarterback. He’s a leader, just a bigger quarterback.”

(Photo: Matthew Holst / Getty Images)

ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57k3JpcGxianxzfJFsZmpoX2WAcLDEmpqopl2dtq24jKKmsJldna64t8SynKxloaqus8DEq5mam5tk