Merrillville quarterback Michael Hill Jr. characterizes his junior season as “bittersweet.” The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Hill piled up personal accomplishments as he led the Pirates to their first-ever semistate win, but he suffered a broken collarbone in the Class 5A state championship game in India napolis, where they fell short of their first title since 1976. “Accolades-wise, I’m grateful,” Hill said. “I still don’t feel satisfied with the season because we didn’t win state. That was the main goal. Our goal was to play 14 games, and we did that. But my goal was always to win state. So I didn’t necessarily get the goal that I truly wanted. “But it’s a blessing that I was able to break records, do everything and have the success that I did. Now the next level, we’ve been there. We have the experience. Now we have to win it. There’s no other solution.” Hill, the 2025 Post-Tribune Football Player of the Year, was instrumental in solving that semistate riddle for the Pirates (11-3), who had been 0-10 in semistate games and made their sixth appearance in seven seasons. He completed a team-record 240 of 368 passes for a team-record 3,220 yards and 28 touchdowns. He also rushed for 682 yards and seven touchdowns on 88 carries. Hill certainly impressed Merrillville coach Brad Seiss. “It starts with the history of good quarterbacks that we’ve had in our time here,” Seiss said. “For him to break the completions and passing yards records speaks volumes about the caliber of player that he is. “Doing all that in his first year as a starter is probably the most impressive thing just because quarterback’s a comfort position, an experience position, and for him to do what he did, logging his first start against Andrean and just continuing to get better each week, shows the type of talent that he has.” Hill eclipsed D.J. Wilkins’ 226 completions from 2015 and Jake Raspopovich’s 3,154 yards from 2012 and ranks second in single-season touchdown passes and completion percentage. “I know how much work I put in this offseason, and it really showed and paid off,” Hill said. “I’m grateful that the guys’ records I broke didn’t feel any type of way about it. They wanted me to keep going and doing what I love doing. “DJ Wilkins, he always gave me encouragement. We talked a few times. He always told me to keep my head up. I’m just really grateful that all of the alumni were always checking up on me and making sure I was doing good. Even with my injury, everyone was showing a lot of love. I’m just really grateful for the community and everyone around me showing so much love.” Hill suffered the broken collarbone early in the second quarter of the Pirates’ 38-17 loss to perennial power New Palestine in the state championship game. He actually returned for the next series midway through the second quarter before he exited the game for good. “It was just so much pain, it was unbearable,” he said. “The trainers looked at me. They tried to keep me calm. It was over like that.” The way Hill responded underscores his character, according to Seiss. “It’s definitely what you’re looking for in the quarterback position,” Seiss said. “He’s a leader by example and also a leader by being a vocal guy. It was most evident in the state championship game. Obviously, his heart gets crushed with breaking his collarbone, but he didn’t feel bad for himself for too long. Once he knew he wasn’t going to be able to get in, he was all in helping DJ (Bowles) do the best he could under really, really difficult circumstances, being the backup guy coming in against a really good football team in the state championship. “When DJ threw his touchdown to Mikel Smoot, (Hill) was the first guy to greet Smoot when he got to the sideline. All throughout the second half, (Hill) was in the offensive and defensive huddle, just trying to encourage and provide leadership and keep his teammates going.” Merrillville quarterback Michael Hill Jr., right, looks for a receiver during a Class 5A semistate game against Concord in Merrillville on Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (Andy Lavalley / Post-Tribune) It took a little while for Hill’s Merrillville career to truly get going. After playing freshman football at Mount Carmel in Chicago, Hill returned to his hometown school and spent most of his sophomore season on the junior varsity team before he gained varsity eligibility for Merrillville’s regular-season finale. He completed 2 of 5 passes for 12 yards and ran for 131 yards and three touchdowns on 12 carries. “Being first-year varsity, I was actually very nervous about this season,” Hill said. “Everything looked like it moved a lot faster. But once I realized it was just playing the game that I’ve loved since I was a kid, it really didn’t faze me.” It didn’t take long for Seiss to fully recognize Hill’s ability. “We knew we were on to something,” Seiss said. “But with that said, we lost a couple of our leading receivers from last year along with having the two running backs (Jac’Quarious Johnson and Cameron Jordan) back. Having all of those opportunities to throw, you didn’t think that was necessarily going to happen. But it became evident as summer went along and he was competing to be the starter, and then as we got into game play, you knew. “There’s only so many schools out there that can effectively throw the ball, and only so many schools that can guard the pass. So just the idea of being able to cover not only one guy but the entire field, he did an awesome job of distributing it to everybody. When you look at last year, our two leading receivers were like 28 and 26 receptions, and we had three guys over 60 receptions this year. It speaks volumes of how well he was able to take what the defense gave him and read coverage and distribute the ball to everybody.” Hill threw nine interceptions this season, but four came in the first two weeks against Class 2A state champion Andrean and Illinois powerhouse Loyola, and the fifth came against four-time Duneland Athletic Conference champion Crown Point in Week 3. He had just one interception in the last seven games. “He made some mistakes early, and as the year went on, those mistakes went away,” Seiss said. “We knew that we were going to have to live with a first-year starter and some mistakes early, and he did that. But pretty much from a couple games in, you knew what you were getting, and he delivered the ball and did a great job. “On top of that, just what he brought to the table from an athleticism standpoint, when teams felt they were going to get him, he was always able to evade them. He did a good job of mixing scrambling for rushing yards with being able to extend plays and find open guys once coverage broke down. … You look at just the overall body of work, he just continued to get better.” Merrillville quarterback Michael Hill Jr. scrambles for yards during a nonconference game against Andrean in Merrillville on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. (Michael Gard / Post-Tribune) Hill is expected to get out of his sling over winter break and return to the basketball court for the Pirates in the first week of January. Also part of the 400-meter relay team that placed sixth at the state meet last spring, Hill should resume throwing a football after the start of the new year. “There’s that kind of ‘what-if’ component a little bit, and you feel bad for him because just the opportunity to go play in front of the entire state and show his talents, that got taken away by getting hurt,” Seiss said. “But he’s done a good job. He’s handled things well. “Anybody in those circumstances would definitely play the ‘what-if’ game, what would’ve happened if I was able to play, what could’ve we done. But he didn’t really care about that, and he provided great leadership and encouragement when it was evident he couldn’t play.” Hill recalled growing up watching his cousin A’Veyawn Madry, a defensive back who graduated from Merrillville in 2021 and is on Purdue’s roster. “It was all of his friends playing together,” Hill said. “They were playing since they were little, Pop Warner. So when I came back, I was really excited. I really wanted to bring a state championship home to the school. “We didn’t get the result we wanted, but it still meant a lot to get there. We still made history. We still had fun playing the game. I’m just grateful to God to even be in that position. Now we’re coming up for a bigger year, we’re hoping to do the same thing and take it to the next level to win a state championship. Now we just have to put our heads down and grind.” ...read more read less