The things Will Muschamp is looking for from his young QBs this spring
This time of year can matter for South Carolina’s young quarterbacks.
In many ways, it’s among their most valuable time of the year.
During the season, only one of them will get a real complement of reps, whoever earns the backup spot behind Jake Bentley. The rest of the year they throw on their own, work in meetings and do what they can, but real life reps are few and far between.
And in this limited window, Will Muschamp looks for a few key factors.
“Taking care of the football is No. 1,” Muschamp said. “Being productive when they’re on the field is No. 2.”
But in truth, it goes beyond that to a matrix of skills and attributes the players are evaluated on every single snap.
At the moment, USC has three scholarship passers behind Bentley. Ryan Hilinski is a four-star freshman out of California. Dakereon Joyner was a four-star who came in last spring and has a year in the program, while Jay Urich is in his third year.
Both Urich and Joyner got a little action against FCS Chattanooga last year, but both came in as less finished products as passers.
Whoever among the three earns the backup role gains a valuable asset in those extra in-season reps, and likely gets an inside track on the job Bentley will leave open after next season. Muschamp said he’d like to see a backup emerge, but didn’t rule out the competition going all the way to August.
But for the moment, this is a chance for the staff to evaluate in a way they rarely can.
They get reps, practice, team reps, with no stresses of gameplanning or fully picking an option with the season bearing down on them. What’s one thing the staff focuses on, a vital broad and valuable skill?
“Decision-making,” Muschamp said. “At the end of the day, it’s, if we call an RPO, does he make the right decision to hand the ball off? Does he take the ball to the right spot. Command of the offense, command of the team as far as that is concerned, communication. There are so many different things, the accuracy of the ball, there’s so many different things that they’re graded on every single play that are obviously very important.”
