Hill making the transition to linebacker at UNI

CEDAR FALLS - Barkley Hill cares about football.

Barkley Hill does not care about the position in which he plays football.

The 215-pound junior made the move from his lifelong position of running back to linebacker for Northern Iowa over the offseason at the request of a coaching staff that had a surplus of running backs and the opposite at linebacker. When asked to make the switch, the former Iowa Hawkeye running back didn't bat an eye.

After an ACL injury and a brush with the law in Iowa City, then playing behind all-time rushing leader David Johnson last year as a Panther, Hill hasn't seen much of the field since he left Cedar Falls High School.

He just wants to play.

'Whatever it takes to get on the field,” Hill said after practice on Monday. 'There's a pretty big battle right now at running back, and we're running thin at linebacker. It's just another opportunity to get on the field, so I'm going to make the best of it.

'Right now I really don't know which I like better (running back or linebacker). Whichever position gets me on the field the most.”

Getting on the field has been the catalyst to many more things than just football success for Hill as well.

The OWI charge in November 2012 happened while he was sidelined with the torn ACL that ruined what could have been his chance to start at running back as a true freshman for the Hawkeyes. Coach Mark Farley said he's noticed in Hill's time at UNI that the combination of staying healthy and being a contributor week-in and week-out has facilitated a move away from the young man who made some bad choices.

'He's had his struggles. But when you have success on the field, you don't have that frustration,” Farley said. 'And maybe that frustration to all of us kind of makes us do some dumb things sometimes. So the more success a person has on the field, the better they do in the classroom and the better they'll do outside the classroom.”

If Hill dwells on the past, it's impossible to tell these days.

He's learned a lot from what's happened, and said in the last three years his priorities have shifted.

'I guess I learned about focus. It's not like high school where football is just two hours of your day. You've got to want it. You've got to pay attention. You've got to work hard,” Hill said. 'It's (become) more about taking what you can get to get on the field. They gave me the opportunity to play linebacker, and I'm going to take that and give it the best of my ability. I'm going to see what I can make of it.”

So far, his coaches like what they see in the newly-crowned linebacker.

If anyone has an eye for them, it's the former Panther linebacker in Farley. He saw a lot of Hill as a prep in UNI's backyard, and believed Hill had the body type and instincts to play a position that's long been vital in Farley's system.

Farley insists the move hasn't been set in stone yet, and that there's always a chance Hill could move back to running back should the need arise. But with the current state of the team - only four linebackers are upperclassmen, and one of those in De'Angelo Jennings is hurt - the signs Farley saw in Hill were enough to give it a shot.

'I just felt he has body lines like a linebacker. He can move and flow like a linebacker,” Farley said. 'I just wanted to see if he could do it on the field. It takes a special player to get in the box and do it. It doesn't faze him; he's getting better every day.

'He's never flinched, he just wants to play. I'm sure he wants to be a running back in his heart because that's all he's ever played, but he also knows he wants to play here.”

It was also pointed out by defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Jeremiah Johnson that success at linebacker has never been tied to defense being a player's original or natural position.

Johnson said, 'some of the best linebackers we've ever had here have been former running backs,” and Hill has fit right in with the defense and linebacker group. The most important part of it all - and what has the coaches as confident as they are in him - is Hill is eager to learn.

Because even if he does just want to play, he also wants to play well.

'He's asking a lot of questions, obviously, because he's learning a new language, kind of. He's definitely committed to doing it,” Johnson said. 'If a kid doesn't ask questions and he makes mistakes, he doesn't care, right? If a kid makes mistakes and asks questions - even if it's not a mistake, he might be trying to get to the 200 or 300-level course - he's trying to perfect his craft and be as good as he can be.”

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com