Former Samford quarterback Micheal Hiers is back in Birmingham. The Birmingham native has signed with the Stallions of the United Football League. Since graduating from Samford, Micheal has been to an NFL training camp, a Canadian football team and founded a new business while getting to stay apart of the game he loves.
Hiers, who came to Samford in 2022 and proceeded to lead the team to 11 wins, earned numerous honors in a season that saw the Bulldogs play in the FCS quarterfinal.
After another season in 2023, Hiers graduated and set his sights on professional ball, attending rookie minicamp for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“After that, I had opportunities in Canada, specifically with Saskatchewan Roughriders,” Hiers said.
After originally intending to sign in the summer of 2024, Hiers instead spent the summer getting married before signing with the Roughriders the following September.
By the following summer, Hiers was back in Birmingham. “I had some opportunities to possibly go back and didn’t really feel like that’s where I was at,” said Hiers. Instead, Hiers continued to train in Birmingham and surrounded himself with the game of football. “I actually started a football
business. It’s prepping footballs and ordering footballs, customizing them. And we’re working with over 100 high schools now, which is awesome,” said Hiers. “And then I got a call from Coach AJ a couple weeks ago telling me, ‘Hey, make sure you’re ready because there’s a good chance you’ll be with the Stallions’.”
Starting a business in off season was not a part of the plan. “I was training a ton of quarterbacks when I got cut from the CFL because I had a
feeling I’d probably go back or do something,” said Hiers. “This kid had an unprepped football and he’s a really good player but couldn’t throw the ball.”
Hiers prepped the football for him and soon after more unprepped footballs, footballs not broken in yet came to Hiers. Seeing the opportunity, he began charging for the work and demand grew in the Birmingham area.
“NFL guys that I’m friends with put it on their story or big- time college guys with a bunch of
followers. And I started getting my DM started flooding with, ‘Hey, can you sell me a prep football already?’” said Hiers.
A few months later, Hiers was working with Wilson Sporting Goods shipping out footballs to 35 different states and over 100 high schools.
As he heads out for training camp with Stallions, Hiers has hired a team to fulfill the orders so he can focus on football.
Focusing on football is something Hiers is a skill he attributes to his time at Samford.
“Something I learned at Samford is just keep your head down and keep working. Don’t try to control everything,” said Hiers. “There’s time that I get frustrated. You just got to understand; you got to keep working.”
As Hiers looks ahead to his season with the Stallions, he is careful not to concern himself with factors out of his control.
“My job is to go in every day and try to be the best version of myself, and then we’ll see how the result, we’ll see how it turns out. I don’t worry about results,” said Hiers.
The Stallions first game comes on March 27 in Louisville. And Hiers doesn’t know yet what his role on the team will be, but he knows he will appreciate each day he has.
“I look at it is 1% of high school players go play division I college and then 1% of them get to play professional football,” said Hiers. “And there’s 150 professional quarterbacks in the world and to get the opportunity to be one of them, that fires me up.”Former Samford quarterback Micheal Hiers is back in Birmingham. The Birmingham native has signed with the Stallions of the United Football League. Since graduating from Samford, Micheal has been to an NFL training camp, a Canadian football team and founded a new business while getting to stay apart of the game he loves.
Hiers, who came to Samford in 2022 and proceeded to lead the team to 11 wins, earned numerous honors in a season that saw the Bulldogs play in the FCS quarterfinal.
After another season in 2023, Hiers graduated and set his sights on professional ball, attending rookie minicamp for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“After that, I had opportunities in Canada, specifically with Saskatchewan Roughriders,” Hiers said.
After originally intending to sign in the summer of 2024, Hiers instead spent the summer getting married before signing with the Roughriders the following September.
By the following summer, Hiers was back in Birmingham. “I had some opportunities to possibly go back and didn’t really feel like that’s where I was at,” said Hiers. Instead, Hiers continued to train in Birmingham and surrounded himself with the game of football. “I actually started a football
business. It’s prepping footballs and ordering footballs, customizing them. And we’re working with over 100 high schools now, which is awesome,” said Hiers. “And then I got a call from Coach AJ a couple weeks ago telling me, ‘Hey, make sure you’re ready because there’s a good chance you’ll be with the Stallions’.”
Starting a business in off season was not a part of the plan. “I was training a ton of quarterbacks when I got cut from the CFL because I had a
feeling I’d probably go back or do something,” said Hiers. “This kid had an unprepped football and he’s a really good player but couldn’t throw the ball.”
Hiers prepped the football for him and soon after more unprepped footballs, footballs not broken in yet came to Hiers. Seeing the opportunity, he began charging for the work and demand grew in the Birmingham area.
“NFL guys that I’m friends with put it on their story or big- time college guys with a bunch of
followers. And I started getting my DM started flooding with, ‘Hey, can you sell me a prep football already?’” said Hiers.
A few months later, Hiers was working with Wilson Sporting Goods shipping out footballs to 35 different states and over 100 high schools.
As he heads out for training camp with Stallions, Hiers has hired a team to fulfill the orders so he can focus on football.
Focusing on football is something Hiers is a skill he attributes to his time at Samford.
“Something I learned at Samford is just keep your head down and keep working. Don’t try to control everything,” said Hiers. “There’s time that I get frustrated. You just got to understand; you got to keep working.”
As Hiers looks ahead to his season with the Stallions, he is careful not to concern himself with factors out of his control.
“My job is to go in every day and try to be the best version of myself, and then we’ll see how the result, we’ll see how it turns out. I don’t worry about results,” said Hiers.
The Stallions first game comes on March 27 in Louisville. And Hiers doesn’t know yet what his role on the team will be, but he knows he will appreciate each day he has.
“I look at it is 1% of high school players go play division I college and then 1% of them get to play professional football,” said Hiers. “And there’s 150 professional quarterbacks in the world and to get the opportunity to be one of them, that fires me up.”
Sports Editor
