The Waynesburg University football team reported to camp on Wednesday with high expectations of a Presidents’ Athletic Conference championship.
After coming close to winning the crown the past two seasons, the Yellow Jackets are once again expected to compete for the PAC title.
Much of that falls on the arm of quarterback Carter Hill.
After spending the 2011 season at Division II Tiffin University, Hill came to Waynesburg in 2012 where he grabbed the starting job in Week 6 of that season and hasn’t looked back since.
Hill completed 92-of-156 passes for 1,075 yards, 10 touchdowns that season before really coming into his own last season where he threw for 3,102 yards and 28 touchdowns and only six interceptions.
In the process Hill not only enters the season as one of the top offensive players in the conference, but has earned the trust of Yellow Jackets head coach Rick Shepas and his teammates.
“We’re lucky to have Carter at the helm,” said Shepas. “Sometimes we just call a formation and a play set and let Carter make all the calls. Sometimes the coaches will ask me what we have called and I just say we’ll find out. We try and play to his strengths and put him in good positions, but the way he sees the game makes him good.”
The fact that Hill has the success that he has had in a Yellow Jackets offense that throws the football a lot is impressive in itself considering he came out of high school as primarily a running quarterback.
Yet Hill is comfortable putting the ball up 50 and sometimes 60 times a game like he did during his junior season.
“When I was in high school I set the school record for attempts in a game with around 30,” said Hill. “I got over 25 carries a game but only threw about 20 times a game. Our coaches do a great job of doing what players are good at and they feel I’m good at getting the ball out of my hand. Once I understood the offense and learned what the defense is trying to take away it became a lot easier.”
It’s Hill’s presence though that gives Waynesburg a chance to win week in and week out.
He has a pedigree as a winner, having only lost two regular season games his entire high school career.
In just over a year and a half as the Yellow Jackets starter, Hill has become a dependable leader and a major reason why Waynesburg has turned into legitimate contenders in the PAC.
“He’s a winner,” said Shepas. “That was the attraction to him when he was coming out of high school. He has swagger and was a four-year starter and won so much. He only lost in the playoffs. He’s a coach’s kid so he knows the deal. The kid is electric. He lights up the practice field as soon as he steps through the gate and is always fired up.”
However if Waynesburg is to contend for the PAC crown in 2014, they will have to make a concentrated effort to take some of the pressure off Hill, which seems to be the game plan heading into the season.
Hill’s numbers could be down a bit this season as Waynesburg will try to be more balanced on offense. After struggling to run the ball at times in 2013, a better ground game could make the Yellow Jackets one of the better offenses in the entire conference.
“We are going to try and be more balanced on offense,” said Hill. “We have more experience up front and our backs have worked real hard this offseason and are more comfortable in the offense. The individual numbers don’t matter much. Only wins matter. We want to be able to everything well as an offense and not just be explosive in the passing game.”
Waynesburg brings back a ton of weapons for Hill and I they can indeed run the ball more effectively this season, the sky could be the limit for their offense.
But at the end of the day the only thing that matters to Hill is a PAC championship.
“We want to finish this year,” added Hill. “We have a chip on our shoulder and our main theme is to finish this year. As close as we have been in the past we haven’t been able to finish it all the way. We want that automatic bid and want to make a run in the playoffs but at the same time we aren’t looking ahead to anything. We are focused on week one.”
As long as Hill is under center, Waynesburg has a very good chance to make that happen in 2014.
Photo Credit: Waynesburg University
