MONMOUTH, Ill. – In almost every year this century, Monmouth College has had a quarterback on its roster who'd either already achieved first team All-Midwest Conference honors or would eventually get there. Four of those quarterbacks – Tanner Matlick, Rob Purlee, and brothers Alex Tanney and Mitch Tanney – were named the league's Offensive Player of the Year, with Alex Tanney taking the honor three times.
        That might not be enough to give Monmouth the title of "Quarterback U" – does it help that Tanney then played nine seasons in the NFL? – but it's still a rich tradition at the position that, this century, has only skipped the 2006 and 2012 seasons, when none of those four signalcallers – or the most recent first-team QB, Hayden Nelson – was on the roster.
        Nelson last took a snap for the Fighting Scots in 2018, so the jury is still out on whether a future first-team All-MWC quarterback was on the roster in 2019. The only quarterback still with the Scots' program from that season is Carter Boyer, and the junior Illini West product started Monmouth's first two games this year before being sidelined by an injury.
        Tasked with developing the ultimate All-MWC successor to Nelson is new quarterbacks and wide receivers coach Daniel Hill, who comes to Monmouth from Berry College in Georgia, where he coached wide receivers and tight ends while also serving as the special teams coordinator. In his three seasons with the Vikings, they won two Southern Athletic Association championships.
        Prior to that, HIll was a wide receiver graduate assistant at Illinois Wesleyan University from 2017-19. The Titans tied for two CCIW championships with Hill on the sidelines and made the NCAA playoffs his first year. A 2017 graduate of Ball State University, Hill worked with the Cardinals' football team as a student assistant.
        "In high school, I sent out a lot of letters to college football programs, asking if I could help out in any way," said Hill, who was an offensive lineman at Madeira High School in Cincinnati, where he played for Mike Shafer and Jon Misali and worked for basketball coach Jim Reynolds. "Ball State got back to me, so I was a student assistant there, working with the special teams and running backs."
        He wanted to get into the business, he said, because "I appreciated the mentorship of the high school coaches who influenced me."
        Hill began working at Monmouth last April, and it hasn't taken him long to feel welcomed into the Scots' family.
        "I really appreciate the family atmosphere that Coach (Chad) Braun and Coach (Joe) Freitag have created here," said Hill. "I'm grateful to be here and to be around these people. Gratitude is definitely the word that comes to mind."
        In his short time at Monmouth, Hill has already overseen two starting quarterbacks. Boyer threw for 165 yards and two TDs in the Scots' second game of the season, a 42-7 win over Grinnell. However, he suffered an injury against the Pioneers, and junior Riley Fetterer came on to run for a 75-yard score in the game. Fetterer then led the Scots to a 37-27 win at Illinois College, throwing for 180 yards and a score and adding another rushing TD.
        "Riley plays baseball for us, too," said Hill of the former Rockridge star. "I've been hearing about his athleticism since I first got here. He's making really good decisions with the football. He's a very intelligent player."
        Of Boyer, whose injury status is "day-to-day," Hill said, "He's doing a great job of getting with our head athletic trainer, Bob Foster, and doing what he can to get healthy. Carter highly desires to be good, and he wants to be coached. He's got a lot of pure athleticism. It just needs to be refined."
        As a freshman third-stringer, Boyer memorably came on to lead the Scots on an 89-yard touchdown drive in the final minute to lift Monmouth to a 10-7 victory over St. Norbert in the MWC title game.
        "We have great competition at the position, which is exactly what you want," said Hill.
        One of the first-year Monmouth coach's main priorities is to follow the game plan set by Freitag and "to take care of the football. We want to make sure we're putting the football where Coach Freitag wants to put the football."
        But there are many ways that Hill can add his own personal touch to the quarterbacks' development.
        "The thing that I emphasize most is the leadership responsibilities of the position," he said. "They have command of the offense, and it's up to them to make sure we're set up to be as explosive with the football as possible. So I really teach decisiveness and consistently making great decisions with the ball."
        Part of the decisiveness can even come pre-snap, as Hill said Monmouth quarterbacks "have the freedom to make checks and audibles at the line of scrimmage, although we try to follow what Coach Freitag calls. He's the play caller."
        Hill said teaching technique also comes into play, both with the quarterbacks' arm action and their footwork.
        Another of his coaching priorities is simply "to produce the best young men as possible in my position groups," he said. "Our upperclassmen are doing a great job with that, and I really enjoy working with our younger players to help them get there, too."
        Hill was asked if the Monmouth tradition of having an All-MWC quarterback will continue.
        "I think we're heading that way," he said. "I think our players are preparing to be all-conference players. So that's something that's in the back of my mind. But our emphasis will continue to be to think about the next play and to think about the next opponent."
        In the Scots' case, that next opponent plays in Appleton, Wisconsin, the Scots' longest road trip of the season. Monmouth will meet Lawrence University at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Banta Bowl before returning to April Zorn Memorial Stadium to play the University of Chicago on Oct. 9.