What USC QB Hilinski has seen from Doty, and how he’s bonding with Joyner in spring
A season ago, South Carolina quarterback Ryan Hilinski was the spring enrollee, trying to push for a role and battling a player one year his senior in Dakereon Joyner.
At the start of this spring, four-star freshman Luke Doty is in a similar spot and trying to push Hilinski, who somewhat established himself as a starter last season. And Joyner, the man Hilinski edged out a year ago? He’s catching balls from Hilinski as a full-time wide receiver.
“I remember just talking to Dakereon about that situation,” Hilinski said. “He’s a team player. He’s always been a team player. He’s a team guy. I love him. He’s just super confident, always smiling, always laughing no matter what position he’s put in and he just wants to do the best for the team.”
Joyner was a player who went from saying in the spring of 2019 that he came to Columbia to play quarterback to accepting a role as a wide receiver days after learning Hilinski had beat him out for a backup job behind Jake Bentley.
But fate moved things around. Bentley’s season ended with a foot injury on the final play of the season opener. Hilinski became the starter and Joyner became the backup, bouncing between receiver and signal caller, sometimes serving as a run-first, change-of-pace player.
He’s now trying to play catch-up, learning the finer points of a position he had never played growing up.
Doty, who starred at Myrtle Beach High School, is all of three practices into his career and certainly fits a different profile than Hilinski. Where Hilinski is a pure pocket passer (he said offensive coordinator Mike Bobo made some jokes about his running during film sessions), Doty is more mobile, a runner who had 701 rushing yards as a junior and 408 more in limited carries as a senior.
And he’s made an impression on the guy he’s competing with.
“Luke’s an amazing athlete, amazing competitor,” Hilinski said. “He’s a fun guy to be around, which is super cool. I think this whole quarterback room that we have now, we’re all gelling together.”
The group has a different build than last season, when Bentley was the leader and Joyner and Urich were splitting time at receiver.
Now Urich is at QB full-time. Bentley and Joyner are out of the room, and transfer Collin Hill is a new but veteran presence.
“We’re all making jokes back and forth, left and right,” Hilinski said. “So the composure and the confidence in each other, and being around each other is really really good. And I think Luke is just adding another next level of competitiveness between all of us.”
This story was originally published March 4, 2020 at 10:40 AM.
