Santa Barbara High junior quarterback Deacon Hill announced Tuesday on Twitter that he has committed to the University of Wisconsin.
The 6-foot-4, 225-pound Hill impressed several college coaches in his performances at elite football camps over the past couple of months.
He also received offers from Nevada and Kansas State.
Wisconsin was the first program to present Hill with an offer in May.
He took an unofficial visit to the Big 10 school in Madison earlier in June and came away impressed.
He told BadgerBlitz.com: ‘Well, when I went on my unofficial I just felt a connection to the coaches and the campus. And I just felt like it would be a great fit for me to develop as a person and player. The part that stood out was just the relationships the players and coaches had. It was like a family.”
After informing the Badgers of his commitment, Hill told Wisconsin.rivals.com: “The coaches were extremely happy. “They feel that I would be a great fit for the school and program and I can’t wait to continue to build the relationships with the coaches.”
Hill is an outstanding multi-sport athlete. He was a standout club water polo and would have been a highly sought-after recruit. He started on the JV basketball team at Santa Barbara.
He was the varsity back-up quarterback to senior Frankie Gamberdella last Fall but saw lots of action as the Dons often used Gamberdella as a receiver. He started the final game of the regular season against Dos Pueblos after Gamberdella suffered an injury the week before and completed 14 of 20 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns in a 24-7 win. He also started in CIF first-round playoff loss at Culver City.
Deacon is the youngest of four children of Cindy and Pe’a Hill. Older sisters Sami, Kodi and Abbi are water polo players. Abbi, who graduated from Dos Pueblos in June, followed Sami and Kodi and signed to play water polo at UCLA.
Sami went on to play for the 2016 Gold Medal-winning USA women’s water polo team at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. Kodi is the assistant women’s water polo coach at UCLA.
Deacon Hill and Santa Barbara open the football season on Aug. 23 against Buena at the remodeled Peabody Stadium.
— Noozhawk Sports Editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with