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“We obviously
ended the season feeling as if we underachieved as a
team and I know I was upset we didn’t get to keep
playing, but on a personal level, it was awfully nice to
finally get in and get to lead this team,” said Hill. “I
just wished I could have finished out the year as the
starter.”
Nine years ago, Hill was leading the
Hutchinson Community College football team to a pair of
winning seasons and the a 1999 Valley of the Sun Bowl
Championship.
Hill remains the third-leading passer in
Blue Dragon history with 2,948 yards and is tied for
third in career touchdown passes with 23.
<GO TO SHAUN HILL'S CAREER BIO>
After HCC, Hill led the Maryland
Terrapins to an Atlantic Coast Conference championship
in 2001 and a berth in the Orange Bowl.
Hill signed a free-agent contract with
Minnesota in 2002 and played with the Vikings for five
years before going to the 49ers before the 2006 season.
A few days after
season’s end, team doctors patched up Hill’s finger,
taking a bone from his left wrist to reconfigure the tip
of his finger.
“They took care
of the finger quickly and it wasn’t anything major so
with a little rehab it should heal up nicely, and I’ll
be ready to go when we start up again in March,” said
Hill. “Really the only thing I had to worry about when
the season ended was shipping my car home since my back
definitely couldn’t have handled the 30 hour drive to
Missouri.”
It was
ultimately the fractured back, and not the finger, that
forced Hill to sit out the final game against Cleveland.
The injury was a huge letdown for the veteran
quarterback who waited until his sixth season to throw
his first regular season pass.
“It was a roller
coaster ride for me,” said Hill. “I really had to fight
thru the finger even to stay the number three because I
didn’t want them to bring anyone else in. When Trent
went down, it was an opportunity for me to finally step
in and it was such a great ride. It had been a long time
since I’d been in that role and I really didn’t want to
give that up. I cherished being out there and to miss
the last game of the season with the back was very
upsetting.”
Hill may have
missed the final game, but there looks to be more games
in a 49ers uniform in the works for this former career
third-stringer who enjoyed the classic Cinderella tale
towards the end of the year. Per his agent, Hill has
reportedly received a recent offer from the 49ers that
would keep him out of the free agency pool.
“I’m pretty
sure, actually I’m very confident that we’ll get
something done, and I’m very hopeful of getting
something done soon,” said Hill upon departing for the
off-season.
The sixth-year
veteran originally turned down a deal earlier in the
fall because he felt it was based on him staying a
third-stringer, but he pled a strong case for more
playing time after two wins in his first two starts and
an average QB Rating over a 100 in his
10 quarters of play.
“It was never my
goal to be a third-stringer and I felt that was what
they were talking about then,” said Hill who finished
the season with a 68.4 completion percent, 5 touchdowns
and only 1 interception.
General Manager
Scot McCloughan and head coach Mike Nolan have both
asserted that there will be open competition at the
quarterback position, unlike last season when the job
was firmly entrusted to former first-round pick Alex
Smith.
“I think all of
that really remains to be seen but I think no matter
what the circumstances are, you are always competing at
some level,” said Hill. “My mindset will be the same
going into next year, and that’s that you are always
competing for a job period.”
Until his future
is settled and the gridiron competition does kick up
again, Hill will nurse his injuries back at his home on
the Lake of the Ozarks, and delve into his favorite
pastime, fishing.
“They’ve got
those nice spin casters so you can switch it from right
hand to left hand so I should still be able to do some
fishing despite the finger,” said Hill. “I’ll figure it
out somehow, as long as it’s not noodling (a practice of
catching catfish using your bare arms). You won’t catch
me doing that, broken finger or not.”
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