Orth is next in line at QB as Mitch recovers from injury

South Carolina will pick up the pieces from its first loss of the season with backup quarterback Perry Orth at the helm.

Gamecocks head coach Steve Spurrier confirmed Sunday that starting quarterback Connor Mitch is out for at least the foreseeable future after leaving Saturday night’s 26-22 loss to Kentucky due to a separated shoulder. Mitch, a sophomore who won the starting job in the preseason, also is currently hospitalized due to what Spurrier described as a hip infection.

“He’ll probably spend a couple days (in the hospital) getting some IV to get rid of sort of an infection in his hip area,” said Spurrier, who lost for just the third time in 25 games against the Wildcats.

Mitch suffered a deep hip bruise in South Carolina’s 17-13 win over North Carolina on Sept. 3.

“And it’s an ugly bruise,” Spurrier said. “He got treatment all week and felt like he was ready to go. That probably aggravated it last night I’m sure.”

Mitch is 13-of-29 passing for 165 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions this season. He will be out at least four to six weeks, Spurrier said.

Orth, a former walk-on who was working at Publix until he received a scholarship in August, is 15-for-22 for 203 yards, one touchdown and one interception this season. He was 13-for-20 for 179 yards, one touchdown and one fourth quarter interception after relieving Mitch on Saturday night against the Wildcats.

“I think Perry threw some nice balls last night,” Spurrier said. “We have confidence in Perry. Unfortunate Connor got hurt, but you have to move on to the next player. That’s what we’ll try to do. We actually moved the ball with Perry in there the second half.”

Freshman quarterback Lorenzo Nunez, who had two carries for 40 yards against Kentucky, “probably” will be the backup quarterback against the Bulldogs (2-0, 1-0 SEC), Spurrier said.

“He and Michael Scarnecchia, yeah,” Spurrier said. “Lorenzo could play some, we will have to wait and see.”

Neither Nunez nor Scarnecchia has thrown a collegiate pass. Twenty-two of Orth’s 24 career passes have come this season. Even with a veteran quarterback, though, the Gamecocks would be facing major question marks headed into their final 10 games of the regular season.

Kentucky’s win Saturday night was its first road win in its last 23 tries, the first time it won in Columbia since 1999 and the first time it has notched back-to-back wins against the Gamecocks since 1998-99. It was also the Wildcats’ first conference win anywhere since beating South Carolina 45-38 in Lexington, Ky., last year.

“Obviously, our defense had two different halves last night and our offense had two just about. We will see if we can piece it all together,” Spurrier said. “We are not talented enough to play poorly and win, so we have to play well, coach well and take care of the ball, all those types of things and that will give us our best chance.”

After winning 33 games from 2011-2013, the Gamecocks are 3-6 in their last nine SEC games. They head to Sanford Stadium having won four of the last five against the Bulldogs, though.

“We didn’t play real smart at times, but the effort I thought was very good in the second half,” Spurrier said. “We had a lot of chances to win, but we didn’t do it so we have to move on, get it behind us and start preparing for the Georgia Bulldogs.”

This story was originally published September 13, 2015 at 2:26 PM with the headline "Orth is next in line at QB as Mitch recovers from injury."