By Todd Hefferman, The SouthernWednesday, April 29, 2009 11:13 PM CDT The end zones are curved some places, and all the teams may not have familiar hometowns, but the af2 is football to former Southern Illinois University quarterback Nick Hill. And football has been good to Hill this spring.
Hill was originally supposed to play with the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League, but after that league suspended operations for 2009, the 6-foot-3, 215-pound lefty landed in Rio Grande Valley (Texas). The former Saluki earned the starting quarterback spot right before the season, and was leading af2 in passing heading into last weekend's game at Corpus Christi.
"I felt confident that I could play," said Hill, a Du Quoin native who was invited to the Chicago Bears' training camp last year. "The first couple weeks of training camp were good, just learning the rules and how things are done here. We have a couple receivers that can make some plays, and in this league you really have to trust your receivers, because they are in a lot of one-on-one match-ups."
After Rio Grande Valley's 77-50 win, the Dorados moved to 3-1 in the National Conference's Southwest Division. Hill completed 15-of-26 passes for 198 yards, eight touchdowns and one interception in that victory. He is now third in the league in passing, averaging 291.5 yards per game, and is second in total offense (303.2 ypg).
And he's not the only former Saluki making waves in the pros this spring. Teammate Craig Turner, one of the deadliest return men in the Gateway Conference two years ago, had 122 kickoff return yards against Corpus Christi.
Former SIU wideout Quorey Payne, a receiver at Mahoning Valley (Ohio), is third in the league in all-purpose yards after earning 176 in a 66-30 loss to Tulsa. Payne, a 5-9, 182-pound receiver, averages 207.8 ypg, but hasn't had the success Hill and Turner have seen this season.
While Payne may have one of the coolest logos in the league on his helmet as a member of the Thunder, Mahoning Valley has started out 1-4 in the American Conference's East Division.
"I've been pretty much been able to score at will as a kick returner and wide receiver, but as a team we're 1-3, and that doesn't sit well with me," Payne said before Saturday's game. "The speed of the game is not that bad for me. The only thing for me is, I would go one way, and then I'd stop and try to cut back the other way, but the defensive linemen don't have as far to run."
Indoor football presents a lot of new challenges for Hill, Turner and Payne. The smaller field makes the game a tad more physical and congested. In most af2 stadiums, Hill said, the end zones are curved, so opposing teams don't even have the full 10 yards to play with. The side walls are also in play, which make a tackle that used to go out of bounds in college turn into a full-speed sandwich.
Former SIU wideout Alan Turner and former Saluki offensive tackle Darren Marquez were both on the Indoor Football League's Bloomington Extreme until this week. Marquez signed with the CFL's BC Lions on Tuesday, and expects to compete there the rest of the year unless an NFL squad calls. Alan Turner, like all the others, is also waiting for that big call, which can happen quickly.
Just Wednesday, River City Rage defensive back Cornelius "Pig" Brown signed with the Green Bay Packers, according to a release from the IFL.
"I have the support to continue to chase my dream until I can't play any more," Alan Turner said.
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