Arms race: Senior quarterbacks LeFevour, Hiller face off in last Central/Western rivalry game

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They stand as campus icons less than three hours away.

Seniors Dan LeFevour from Central Michigan and Tim Hiller from Western Michigan are premier quarterbacks in the Mid-American Conference. But five years ago, they were middling recruits gaining little interest.

“(Dan) was at a smaller school, maybe a school that doesn’t get as much attention,” said CMU coach Butch Jones, who served as an offensive coach and LeFevour’s recruiting coordinator prior to coaching at West Virginia for two years. “He was kind of in obscurity a little bit. He didn’t have the gaudy statistics.”

As for Hiller, he was rated the 27th best pro-style quarterback in the nation by Rivals.com. Yet, he was not garnering any offers.

“I got a lot of interest, but nobody pulled the trigger,” he said.

Five years later, LeFevour and Hiller, who will face each other in the Central/Western rivalry for the final time at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Waldo Stadium in Kalamazoo, are now legitimate pro prospects.

Little interest

LeFevour, who attended Benet Academy outside of Chicago, Ill., was hindered by an offense that relied heavily on the running game.

“He didn’t throw the ball much, so what you had to do is make a cut up of all his throws,” Jones said. “And what you saw was an individual who was very accurate throwing the ball.”

He was an unranked, two-star prospect by
Rivals.com. He received offers from CMU, Ball State, Eastern Michigan and Eastern Illinois.

Surprisingly, LeFevour did not wait long to make a decision, committing to CMU in Aug. 2005, prior to his senior year.

“I committed early because I felt, as a quarterback, you get the bulk of your offers in the summer,” he said. “Anything that comes after that means that you’re their second or third or fourth guy.”

Hiller did not lock up his future as quickly. By December 2004, after his senior season, he still had not received an offer from a Division-I program.

Western Michigan was the first school to offer, Hiller said. Another MAC school, Akron, also offered him a scholarship, but it would not last. When J.D. Brookhart took over for former Akron coach Lee Owens, the offer was pulled.

He committed to WMU on Feb. 3, 2005.

Development

LeFevour and Hiller have started at quarterback four years each, but their development was handled differently.

Ryan Cubit was the starting quarterback at WMU in 2005.

When he went down for the year with a season-ending leg injury against Temple, Hiller, who was going to be redshirted, had an opportunity to play as a true freshman.

In his first game as a starter, Hiller put up 57 points against Ball State. The Broncos lost, but they found their quarterback, who threw for 308 yards and five touchdowns.

But in the final game of the season against Northern Illinois, Hiller went down. He tore his ACL and was forced to take a redshirt in 2006.

“(Coach Cubit’s) original plan was to redshirt me my freshman year and then (have me) compete for the job in 2006 and go from there,” he said. “It actually kind of ended up happening in reverse.”

For LeFevour, he spent the 2005 season on the bench.

“We’re a developmental business,” Jones said. “The thing that separates individuals is the mental part of the game, is the mentality, is the maturity, is the work ethic, is the competitiveness.”

Jones said he saw LeFevour had those traits upon recruiting him and building a relationship with him and his family.

Productive careers

Now, Hiller has 9,574 career passing yards, 87 touchdowns and 34 interceptions.

LeFevour, the undisputed starting quarterback since playing at Kentucky in 2006 (a 45-36 loss), has 10,766 career passing yards, 86 touchdowns and 33 interceptions. He has added 2,554 rushing yards and 40 rushing touchdowns.

“The mark of any great player is his level of consistency,” Jones said. “And he’s been extremely consistent. He’s extremely hard on himself and he’s a great student of the game.”

And as time dwindles on his collegiate career, so does the life LeFevour is so used to.

“I think I have less than two months here, guaranteed,” he said. “It means everything to me. Central is my life. Central is where I have connections, where I know people around town.

“It’s all that I know at this point. It’s going to be a big lifestyle change next year.”

Draft prospects

It is widely accepted that both quarterbacks have the potential to play in the National Football League next season.

While Hiller is a classic drop-back passer, Drew Boylhart of thehuddlereport.com, a well respected draft analysis web site, said he will have to overcome some issues to succeed at the next level.

“He’s got accuracy problems. It’s just that simple,” Boylhart said. “When the pressure’s on and, I saw it in the Michigan game, he really struggled.”

Accuracy is not LeFevour’s problem. But arm strength is an issue, said Scott Wright of draftcountdown.com.

“He comes from that spread offense, where he’s a runner/passer hybrid,” Wright said. “(He does not) have a very strong arm — that’s a huge concern.”

But LeFevour said he is confident with the progress he has made with his arm strength since he arrived on campus in 2005.

“If I want to get enough on the ball, I think I can,” he said. “I agree with maybe saying I don’t have a ‘JaMarcus Russell’ arm. I can’t throw the ball 60 yards on my knees.”

Boylhart said arm strength can be overcome if he remains coachable, but mechanics need to be refined.

“He’s able to make so many plays right now on pure athletic talent,” he said. “Once he gets into the pro system and he doesn’t have his feet right and, his hips aren’t right, and his shoulders aren’t right, and all of the sudden, the ball’s going into the ground, the ball’s flying (high) through the air.”

Opinions vary on the two quarterbacks’ draft stock. While Boylhart said LeFevour could be a top three-round pick and Hiller is a late-round guy, Wright has Hiller higher on his board.

“(Hiller has a) more impressive set of physical tools, a little taller. I think he’s got a better arm,” he said. “(He is) still struggling a little bit early in the year coming back from that knee injury.”

The future

Both quarterbacks have uncertain plans after the season ends.

LeFevour said he has left his dad in charge of those plans. He only knows he will be training somewhere, and it will be outside of Mount Pleasant to start.

“(I’ll) take off in the new year at some point, go train somewhere for five to eight weeks, and then I’ll probably be back up here working out until if I’m invited to the combine and the CMU Pro Day,” he said.

LeFevour said he remains confident he can handle the transition to the pro game after the season.

“Will it be an adjustment to do things a different way? Yeah, but I’m not going to give up,” he said. “I’m going to find a way to get it done.”

The adversity he faced his junior year as he struggled through injuries has helped him learn to persevere.

“(You realize) that not everything is going to go your way,” he said. “You got to find a way to bounce back no matter what happens.”

Rivals clash

And Saturday, perhaps the most heated rivalry in the MAC brings the two senior quarterbacks together.

When Western Michigan hosts Central Michigan, it gives Hiller one last chance to beat CMU for the first time since 2005.

There is no bitterness between the rival quarterbacks, though. Hiller said he has a lot of respect for what LeFevour has done at CMU. LeFevour shares that respect, but for a more defined reason.

“I’d say I have more respect for him from the fact that he played as a true freshman, and I know how difficult that could be,” he said. “I know, mentally, I wasn’t ready to do that.”

And with the MAC West implications of the game itself, there is added pressure.

“When you play in this game, you play for more than just the program and your team,” he said. “You also play for the whole university, the community and all the alumni.”

But in reality, having two senior quarterbacks star in the rivalry game for the last time just adds a little more hype.

“Two great careers are coming to an end,” he said. “It’s the last time that these two players will compete in this rivalry.”