Orrville quarterback Tim Hiller was one of the many Ohio prospects at the
Nike Camp on Saturday at Ohio State.
“I had a pretty good day,” Hiller said. “I thought I ran well - tested
pretty well. I picked up some good speed improvement drills and some good
quarterback footwork drills from Coach (Bob) Johnson that are really going to
help me.”
Hiller ran the 40 in 4.69 seconds, jumped 29.3 inches in the vertical, ran
the shuttle in 4.18 seconds and did 11 reps on the bench press at 185 pounds.
“Yeah, I was real happy with that,” he said. “That’s the best 40 I’ve
run in a while. Throughout spring I’ve been working on it, but I didn’t know
how well I’d run.”
Last year at Orrville, the 6-foot-4, 205-pound Hiller was 175 of 317 (55
percent) for 2,828 yards. He also threw 18 touchdowns and 17 interceptions.
“Too many picks,” he lamented.
With a 4.69 time in the 40, Hiller could be a dangerous runner, but Orrville’s
pro style offense doesn’t call for it very often.
“When I have to scramble, I can do it and I do so effectively,” he said.
“But in our offense, the quarterback is not designed to run the ball very
much.”
Hiller hung out with a few of the other quarterback prospects at the Nike
Camp, as well as some opponents from his prep schedule.
“I hung with Miles Schlichter, Tyler Dennis and a couple guys that we
played up there during the season - guys from Dover,” Hiller said.
Hiller couldn’t say enough good things about Johnson, the camp’s QB guru.
“I was impressed with Coach Johnson and the knowledge he has of the
quarterback position,” Hiller said. “He really stresses the importance of
the quarterback’s feet because that’s where a good throw starts from. As far
as throwing the ball, that was the most important thing I picked up.”
Hiller came away impressed with OSU’s facilities.
“They’re great,” he said. “I’ve been up there before for camps, but
they have the new field turf in the indoor facility and they have new outdoor
fields, so they were very nice.”
After the camp, Hiller made the short jaunt over to Ohio Stadium to check out
OSU’s jersey scrimmage. He got a chance to catch up with former Orrville
quarterback Justin Zwick after the game.
“We actually got to talk to Justin and his family for a while, which was
nice,” Hiller said. “His family is friends with ours. They still live in
Orrville.”
Zwick led Orrville to the state championship as a freshman. He transferred to
Massillon after his sophomore year.
“In football, that’s the only state title we’ve won,” Hiller said.
“Justin and his brother (Jared) started a good tradition around here.”
Last year, under the direction of Hiller, Orrville was 6-5, including a first
round loss in the playoffs. The quarterback thinks this could be a huge year for
his team.
“Yeah, I think we could be real good,” he said. “We were pretty young
last year, so we’re excited about next season. We have a lot of good players
back.”
Hiller is being heavily recruited, but has no D-I scholarship offers on the
table yet.
“I don’t have any offers at the time being,” he said. “Maryland is
very interested, Notre Dame is interested, Bowling Green, Pittsburgh, Michigan State, Stanford and a few others we’ve visited.”
Is Ohio State in the picture?
“Oh, I think so,” Hiller said. “I’m interested if they’re
interested. I’ve talked to Coach (Joe) Daniels and I’ve been to games there.
“May will be an interesting month to see who comes to my school and who
calls me. I think there will be some offers coming soon enough.”
Hiller plans on attending as many football camps as possible this summer. He
is football’s version of a gym rat.
“We’re headed about 10 places this summer,” he said. “Miami
University, Toledo, Purdue and all the schools I mentioned previously, except
Stanford. So, we’re going to be going all over the place.”
Hiller is a 4.0 student.