Here’s the promise South Carolina QB Ryan Hilinski made to his defensive teammates

Ryan Hilinski was coming off as unpleasant of a game as one could draw up.

In his first SEC road start, the South Carolina quarterback completed fewer than half his passes. He accidentally contributed to a defensive touchdown when he tried to bat down a ball and it was ruled a fumble, and later threw an interception that went back for a touchdown to put the game out of reach. This was on an afternoon when the Gamecocks defense held up fairly well.

So the next day, he showed leadership, accepting responsibility and asked for something from one of the coaches.

“After the ballgame when we played Missouri, he didn’t play well, he came to the defense that Sunday and asked if I minded if he spoke to the defense,” defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson said while filling in on Will Muschamp’s weekly call-in show. “I said, ‘Sure Ryan, no problem.’ I didn’t want to act like I was intruding in the conversation, but I had my ear open a little bit because I wanted to hear what he’d say to the guys.

“It was, ‘Hey, I gave up more points than you guys gave up, and that will never happen again.’ ”

Hilinski threw for 166 yards that day, getting pounded while he did it. The Gamecocks defense allowed only 4.8 yards per play and 20 points, all while being left on the field often when the offense couldn’t move the ball.

And after that, this freshman, not a year removed from moving across the country, set out to make make sure that defense knew where it stood in his mind.

“For him to come and have the maturity to do that, it speaks about the character of the guy,” Robinson said. “He’s a really good leader, a really good person and a really good player. We’re excited to have him as our leader. He’s doing a great job, and he’ll continue to do that.”

This story was originally published October 2, 2019 at 8:05 PM.