Prep Football Preview ’25: Hillstead dealing big numbers at Timpanogos | News, Sports, Jobs

By Pune Media On Aug 9, 2025

High schoolers are funny about nicknames.

When quarterback Andrew Hillstead first transferred from Skyridge to Timpanogos, one of the T-Wolf players said, “Andrew, I love you, but you’re kinda built like a Gummy Bear.”

Hillstead hears the nickname spoken by everyone from teammates to Timpanogos students congratulating him on a big game. He has worked hard in the weight room this summer so as not to resemble that off-the-cuff remark. His efforts there and on the field have impressed his teammates and coaches enough to earn him a new nickname.

“The Dealer.”

“His job is to deal the cards out there,” Timpanogos coach Austin Heaps said. “The play is called, he looks at the defense and he knows what’s happening out there and who needs the ball in their hands.”

In his first year as a starter, Hillstead complete 61% of his passes for 3,066 yards and 35 touchdowns while throwing only seven interceptions. He also added seven rushing touchdowns.

“He’s a great decision maker,” Heaps said. “People tell us we always seem to have the right play called. We could say it’s just good scouting, but in reality, it’s all Andrew. He’s just very effective and he’s a very smart kid on and off the field. He just makes the whole thing click. When he makes good decisions, it makes everybody’s job much easier.”

Hillstead said the “Gummy Bear” nickname started in a slightly different way.

“The first day I came to practice, I had a pack of Gummy Bears,” he said. “Then one dude was like, ‘You look like that.’ I like the other nickname (The Dealer) more.”

Hillstead (he’s a cousin to BYU quarterback McCae Hillstead) began his career at Skyridge but kind of felt lost in the numbers.

“I have a quarterback trainer at Rocky Mountain Gunslingers,” Hillstead said. “His name is Brooks Ringer and he played quarterback at Orem. He had connections to some people and he hooked me up with Timpanogos. It’s a smaller school and I feel like it’s more personalized. There’s just so many kids at Skyridge. I feel like there’s much more focus on the the individual and on technique here.”

Timpanogos has produced good passing numbers pretty much every year under Heaps and that’s mainly due to the brain trust of former BYU receiver Tyler Anderson and Devin McCann’s offensive scheme.

“I just love how simple the offense is,” Hillstead said. “A lot of offenses they just over-complicate things. Our stuff is very simple and it works. You just have to trust everybody to do their part. It all works.”

Hillstead started off blazing in his first start, throwing for 480 yards and five touchdowns against Jordan to open the 2024 season. He threw for 360 yards and four scores the next week against Park City and 480 yards and five touchdowns the following week at Logan. He tossed five touchdowns against Mountain and Payson during the regular season.

The T-Wolves finished 6-5 last season and lost to Bear River 23-17 in the first round of the 4A playoffs.

“We want to be the highest-scoring offense in the state and make it to state,” Hillstead said. “Then we want to win state. It’s just been a few practices but I’m liking what we’re seeing. I feel like we’re all starting to get connected and we all know we’re on the same page.”

Hillstead’s top four receivers (Gabe Graf, Dash McCann, Parker Harvey and Jameson Jones) all graduated, taking 231 receptions, 2,896 yards and 33 touchdowns with them. Heaps said another McCann, Zac, is a junior who can have a big year.

“We would always joke with Dash saying, ‘Hey, what’s it like having a brother that’s better than you?’” Heaps said. “Obviously, it was all in good fun because Dash was incredible. But Zac is a phenomenal athlete. He’s running at three offensive positions right now and he’s learning some defense as well. He’s got the motor to do it. We had plenty of kids get some varsity time last year. We’re looking forward to seeing Kyle LaPray, too. He’s 6-foot-4 and played behind Gabe Graf so he’s waited his time patiently. This will be his first year being kind of ‘the guy.’”

Heaps said he and his coaching staff really enjoy developing quarterbacks in their unique system.

“When we talk to the quarterbacks in our winter meetings, we ask them to put up some pretty high goals. Anywhere else, they’d say, ‘What, are we playing video games?’ I mean, they say they want to have 50 touchdowns total. Between rushing and throwing, Andrew had 42 last season. He also had four games where he was pretty much done at halftime. When our offense is clicking, it’s pretty fun to watch.”

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