Hunter Taverner Hillenmeyer (born October 28, 1980) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He was drafted by the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

in the fifth round of the

2003 NFL Draft The 2003 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League (NFL) teams selected amateur college football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually since 1936 NF ...

and played for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

from 2003 to 2010. Hillenmeyer attended high school at

Montgomery Bell Academy Montgomery Bell Academy (MBA) is a preparatory day school for boys in grades 7 through 12 in Nashville, Tennessee. History MBA was established in 1867 in the aftermath of the American Civil War. It is the successor to two schools: the Western Mi ...

and played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

. He is a columnist for

TheStreet.com ''TheStreet'' is a financial news and financial literacy website. It is a subsidiary of The Arena Group. The company provides both free content and subscription services such as Action Alerts Plus a stock recommendation portfolio co-managed by B ...

Early years

Growing up in Nashville, Hillenmeyer attended Harding Academy before moving onto Montgomery Bell Academy (MBA). Hillenmeyer was a two-time All-state, All-region and All-district selection at

playing

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

and punter for the Big Red, including the school's 1998 state championship team. He lettered 3 years in football, 3 years in track and 2 years in tennis.

College career

Hillenmeyer was a four-year letterwinner at Vanderbilt (1999–2002) where he saw action in 45 games, starting the final 23 (every contest from 2000–02) and tallying 249 tackles (165 solos) and 6.5 sacks. As a senior, Hillenmeyer was 1 of 6 Division I-A football National Scholar-Athletes earned First-team All-SEC and First-team Academic All-America honors while leading nation in tackles per game (14.0).

Professional career

Hillenmeyer signed with the

after being cut by the

at the end of the 2003 preseason. Hillenmeyer spent most of 2003 playing special teams for the Bears, he tied for fifth on Chicago with 12 special teams tackles as a rookie, playing 13 games on special teams. He became the starter at strong side linebacker in 2004 starting 11 games while appearing in all 16 and making 90 tackles and 2.5 sacks. In 2005, he had 71 tackles including 5 TFLs, 1 sack, 1 INT and 2 PBUs while starting 12 of the first 13 games at SLB before a thumb injury sidelined him for the final three regular season games. On June 30, 2006, the Bears signed Hillenmeyer to a five-year, $13 million contract extension through 2010 that included a $5 million signing bonus. That season, he started 13 games at strongside linebacker, finishing with 68 tackles, 2 TFLs, 1 fumble recovery and a career-high 3 PBUs. In 2007, he played in all 16 games for the second time in his career, starting a career-high 14 contests and had a career-high 101 tackles, and registered 5 QB Hits, 3 TFLs, 2 PBUs, 1 forced fumble and 1 fumble recovery. In 2008, Hillenmeyer played 13 games, starting six. Along with All-Pro linebackers

Brian Urlacher Brian Urlacher (; born May 25, 1978) is an American former football linebacker who spent his entire 13-season career in the National Football League (NFL) with the Chicago Bears. He played college football for the New Mexico Lobos, where he bec ...

and

Lance Briggs Lance Marell Briggs (born November 12, 1980) is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Arizona Wildcats and was select ...

, the Bears were thought to have one of the best linebacking corps in the league; the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' called Hillenmeyer "underrated". In announcing the defensive starters for a 2006 ''

Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, AB ...

'' game against the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

, Bears teammate Alex Brown nicknamed the linebacker "

Triple H Paul Michael Levesque (born July 27, 1969), better known by the ring name Triple H, is an American business executive, actor, and retired professional wrestler currently serving as the chief content officer for WWE. He is widely regarded as on ...

Hunter Hillenmeyer". Hillenmeyer replaced

at middle linebacker for the Bears after Urlacher's season-ending wrist injury in Week 1 of the 2009 season, making 90 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 1 interception and forcing four fumbles. On September 14, 2010, Hillenmeyer was placed on the Bears

injured reserve list The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

after sustaining a severe concussion in the team's season opener against the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

. He was released by the Bears on February 28, 2011.

Personal life

Hillenmeyer pursued a Part-Time MBA program at the

Kellogg School of Management The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (also known as Kellogg) is the business school of Northwestern University, a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1908, Kellogg is one of the oldest and most p ...

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wil ...

. An interview with Fox News Chicago revealed that Hillenmeyer is married to the daughter of

Tim Floyd Tim Floyd (born February 25, 1954) is a former American college basketball coach, most recently the head coach at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). He was formerly the head coach of several teams in the NCAA and the NBA. Floyd is also kn ...

, former coach of the Iowa State,

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

, and

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

men's basketball teams. Hillenmeyer's father is a chef and restaurant owner in

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. In 2013, Hillenmeyer founded a company called OverDog, which allows fans to compete against pro athletes in video games over a mobile app.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hillenmeyer, Hunter 1980 births American football linebackers Chicago Bears players Living people Players of American football from Nashville, Tennessee Vanderbilt Commodores football players Kellogg School of Management alumni