South Carolina football: two quarterbacks taking first team reps

The South Carolina football team is looking at all options under center.

Much has been made of the quarterback position in Columbia following back to back blowout losses at the hands of LSU and Texas A&M. Collin Hill, the starting signal caller over Carolina’s first six games, has not lost the confidence of the coaching staff quite yet, but his poor play over the last three weeks has called for Will Muschamp and Co. to look at other options on the roster.

Ahead of a November 14th matchup with Ole Miss, the Gamecocks have been repping two passers with the first team, those being Hill and reserve Ryan Hilinski. Freshman Luke Doty will also get some action, though he will stick to a few select packages. Coach Muschamp went more in depth with the decision in a press conference on Tuesday.

"“Collin and Ryan both got equal reps (in practice today). We have a package for Luke. With Collin and Ryan being so similar, skill set wise, both guys did a good job today. E do not have a time table to when we will make that decision. It could be up to pregame warmup to see who is spinning the best. We’ll go from there.”"

Muschamp’s statements seem to lean more towards the team sticking with Hill, as he noted that poor play on offense was not solely on the quarterback.

"“It’s not all on (the quarterback) position. We need to play better around that position. We need to have more people step up at wideout outside Shi Smith. We need to continue to take advantage of the tight end position. We need to run the ball better. We need a spark on offense.”"

Hill to this point has completed just 59% of his passes for a total of 1,142 yards (190.3 yds/gm). He’s tossed five touchdown passes to go along with five interceptions, two of which were returned for scores. In his last game, the transfer threw for just 66 yards and two picks while completing just 8 of 21 attempts.

Hill has had his moments, but many around the program are ready to give someone else a shot, with sophomore Ryan Hilinski topping that list.

Hilinski started 11 of the team’s 12 contests in 2019 following the injury of opening day starter Jake Bentley. As a freshman, he threw for 2,357 yards, 11 scores and five interceptions. He showed promise in games against Alabama and Georgia, but also experienced ups and downs as most freshmen in the SEC do.

Hilinski led the Gamecocks to their only scoring drive last Saturday, albeit late in the fourth quarter, and completed 4 of 6 passes for a total of 34 yards.

He’ll have his opportunity to win back the starting role after being beat out in the offseason, though it seems to be a tight race. Whoever ends up winning the competition will have the challenge of outscoring an Ole Miss offense that’s putting up an average of 38 points per game. We likely won’t know the starter until Saturday, but will keep you posted with any news leading up to kickoff.