Childhood homelessness introduced Julian Hill to football; now the former high school QB made the Dolphins as an undrafted TE

MIAMI GARDENS — When Miami Dolphins undrafted rookie tight end Julian Hill was between the ages of 5 and 10, he had a bout with homelessness while under the care of his biological mother.
“Just being from house to house, trailer to trailer, sleeping on floors, ” Hill, now 23 and learning he made the Dolphins’ initial active roster Tuesday, recalled of his time growing up in Fayetteville, North Carolina. “No young kid should go through that, and I experienced that as a young child.
“It was definitely tough. My family, they did everything they could growing up as a kid to make sure I had food on my table, house over my head. But once I moved in with my adopted family, I tell everybody it’s a blessing. I wouldn’t be here without them.”
At 10, he was adopted by Paul and Shannon Schaeffer, and that transformed his life.
His adopted parents were the first ones to get him involved in sports. Hill was at a local recreational-center field to find the team he was set to join, but he went on the wrong day.
Aimlessly walking around but sticking out as the tallest kid in the park, a coach from another team found him. He went by Coach Montgomery and decided he was picking Hill up in a transaction that was somehow legal under league rules.
“Basically got traded, I don’t know what you want to call it,” Hill said.
It might’ve been the pee-wee football version of a player claimed off waivers. But as so many young roster hopefuls across the NFL were getting waived Tuesday, Hill, an undrafted tight end out of Campbell, was not one of them.
Montgomery was the first coach to play Hill at tight end, the position he made his mark playing through college to make the Dolphins’ 53-man roster as a 6-foot-4, 251-pound red-zone target who can be a physical blocker and contribute on special teams.
But when he got to high school in Fayetteville, he shined as a quarterback at Pine Forest High. Two ACL injuries in high school shot his recruitment, but playing quarterback in the Air-Raid offense gave him mental tools that he still uses to this day.
“It helps me learn the playbook faster,” Hill said. “Some guys, it might take a couple more weeks to grasp things. To me, not so long. Every single day, we get something new. I’m able to process it really quick and get on the field, realize what’s going on and execute.”
But arriving at Campbell as a walk-on, he was re-introduced to the position that would get him into the pros.
“First day on campus, they said, ‘Hey man, you’re going to tight end,’” he said of arriving at the small FCS school known as the Fighting Camels and coached by former NFL safety Mike Minter. “Had never put my hand in the dirt. … I kind of got lucky playing in that system.”
A five-year college player, Hill impressed throughout training camp with the Dolphins, catching several touchdown passes in red-zone drills and blocking with the type of physicality tight ends coach Jon Embree loves to see.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel spoke glowingly of Hill earning his spot over drafted tight end Elijah Higgins, whom Miami selected in the sixth round as a converted wide receiver from Stanford.
“I think it speaks more to what we think about Julian than less of Elijah,” McDaniel said. “I prioritize earning your position at work, and (general Manager) Chris Grier does, too, so that was an intense competition that you get a lot of moments to evaluate. It wasn’t a crazy distinction.”
Hill felt he showed he can learn the playbook and play physical as the key points that won him the spot on the team.
“I take pride in being a half O-lineman,” Hill said of the blocking aspect. “I love the trench warfare.”
The Miami tight end room, before Thursday, only had Hill and veteran Durham Smythe on the active roster. The Dolphins, however, signed Tyler Kroft back onto the team after clearing up spots for players placed on short-term injured reserve. Hill has been able to learn from Smythe.
“I probably got lucky,” he said. “I heard the stories about you meet vets and they’re really tough. He’s been one of the freaking greatest guys, even better person. Great football player, knows what he’s doing in and out.”
Hill is one of three undrafted rookies to make the team, along with running back Chris Brooks and nose tackle Brandon Pili.
“That is the journey that is the hardest, most difficult to navigate that really exists,” McDaniel said of the feat for those three. “You go zero to 60 from college to professional, and then you get here, and you’re stacked underneath guys that have been doing it professionally in the scheme or on the stage for an extended period of time. It can look insurmountable.”
But Hill has overcome much more insurmountable challenges in his youth.
As for his biological mother, Hill said: “We’re cordial. We talk every time we get a chance. But my adopted mother, that’s my one. That’s the one I cherish. She’s the one I love. She’s the one I go hard for, my adopted dad. Because, if it wasn’t for them, I don’t know where I’d be right now.”