Shaun Hill

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For the professional ice hockey player, see Sean Hill.

For the professional baseball player, see Shawn Hill.

**Shaun Hill**
National Football League debut

San Francisco 49ers — No. 13
Quarterback
Date of birth: January 9, 1980 (1980-01-09) (age 28)
Place of birth: Parsons, Kansas
Height: 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	Weight: 226 lb (103 kg)
2005 for the Minnesota Vikings
Career history
College: Maryland
Undrafted in 2002
Teams: Minnesota Vikings (2002-2005) San Francisco 49ers (2006-present)
Career highlights and awards
Scored a touchdown on first NFL drive (December 9, 2007) Defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 20-13 in first NFL start (December 15, 2007)
Selected NFL statistics (through Week 17 of the 2007 NFL season)
TD-INT	5-1
Passing yards	501
QB Rating	101.3
Stats at NFL.com

Shaun Hill (born on January 9, 1980 in Parsons, Kansas) is an NFL quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers. He was signed by the Minnesota Vikings in 2002 as an undrafted free agent. He played his entire career with the Vikings up until 2006, when the 49ers signed him as a free agent. Hill attended the University of Maryland.

He took his first career snaps on the final two plays of the 2005 NFL season, taking a knee both times. He took over for third string quarterback Spergon Wynn, who was cut from the team.

1 High school career
2 College career
3 Professional career
4 Personal
5 External links
6 References

[edit] High school career

He was a three-year starter at quarterback and 2-year starter at free safety at Parsons Senior High School. He was a two-time All-Southeast Kansas League 1st-team selection and an honorable mention All-State as a senior. He lettered in basketball, baseball and track and was a three-time All-SEK 1st-team choice in basketball. As a team captain in hoops, he earned All-State honors 3 years and guided the team to the state tournament as a junior and senior. Hill also qualified for the state track meet as a senior.

[edit] College career

Hill was not highly recruited out of high school, so he spent his first two years at Hutchinson Community College, where he earned honorable mention honors as a freshman and sophomore. His junior college success garnered him notice, and he eventually decided to attend college at University of Maryland. While serving primarily as a back up as a junior, he led the Maryland Terrapins to their first Atlantic Coast Conference title since 1985 as a senior in 2001. They earned a trip the 2002 Orange Bowl and finished the year ranked #10 in the country. He finished his Maryland career with 3,158 yards and 19 touchdowns.

[edit] Professional career

Hill was not considered an NFL prospect and so went undrafted in 2002. He ended up signing as a free agent with the Minnesota Vikings, where he spent the season as a 3rd-string backup. In order to get more experience, Hill spent the Spring of 2003 with the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe, where he led the league in passing yards and tied for second in touchdowns. He took his first career snaps with the Vikings.

Hill completed 13 of 20 passes for 148 yards with one interception in the San Francisco 49ers' 17-13 preseason opening loss to the Denver Broncos on August 16, 2007. He demonstrated great pocket mobility but had difficulty in the red zone, throwing one interception in his first drive and then nearly throwing an interception at almost the exact same place the second time down the field. In the last game of the 2007 preseason against the San Diego Chargers, Hill attempted to put the 49ers in field goal range to tie the game. With 16 seconds left on the clock, he threw two deep balls to his wide receivers but both missed their targets, and the second was intercepted, ending the game with the Chargers ahead, 16-13.

Hill made his inspiring 49ers debut on December 9, 2007, filling in for an injured Trent Dilfer. He completed 22 of 27 pass attempts for 181 yards and one touchdown in a loss to his former team, the Minnesota Vikings. Despite his excellent statistics, Hill was critical of his performance, adding, "There (are) a lot of things I need to get better at. Some of that is about getting comfortable playing again. Some things made me want to throw up. Some things, the execution was poor but the results were good on my part. Some things I got away with. The results were better than my execution."^[1]

Hill made his first NFL start on December 15, 2007 in a victory against the Cincinnati Bengals, due to the injuries suffered by Dilfer and Alex Smith. Hill completed 21 of 28 pass attempts for 197 yards, ran for a touchdown and threw a touchdown.^[2] It was then revealed that Hill would finish out the 2007 NFL season as starter.^[3]

On December 18, 2007, the 49ers announced that they had an interest in re-signing Hill, to provide competition against Alex Smith. However, the contract extension, along with its negotiations, were dependent on Hill's performance for the rest of the season.^[4] On December 23, 2007, Hill made his second career start, against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He completed 11 of 24 pass attempts for 123 yards and three touchdown passes, to Darrell Jackson, fellow former Terrapin Vernon Davis, and Frank Gore. The 49ers won 21-19.

In February 2008, Hill signed a new 3-year contract with the 49ers, with contractual terms not released to the media. The undrafted Hill is expected to compete with first overall pick in 2005 Draft Alex Smith and J. T. O'Sullivan for the starting position in 2008 season due to Trent Dilfer being cut. ^[5]^[6]

[edit] Personal

Hill was a kinesiology major at Maryland. He participated in several Viking Children's Fund events and has supported the Muscular Dystrophy Association. He joined former Vikings Head Coach Mike Tice as a former Terrapin QB and was teammates at Maryland with current Vikings linebacker E.J. Henderson. Hill kept a weekly journal chronicling his adventures in Europe for fans on former team's website, Vikings.com.

Shaun enjoys fishing. The quarterback started reeling in fish that were inhabitants of farm ponds in his home state of Kansas during high school. When he lived in Minnesota as a member of the Vikings, Shaun caught a 30-inch, nine-pound walleye on his first try. He was able to lure the fish using a leech for bait 40 feet deep. Also in his fishing repertoire is a 48-inch Muskellunge.