What Muschamp saw from Hill, Hilinski and Gamecock QBs in two weeks of workouts
Will Muschamp’s staff wanted Collin Hill at South Carolina and didn’t get him.
That was years ago, when Muschamp still wore the title of “new Gamecocks head coach” and he made a run at the star from Dorman High School.
“When we took the job here at South Carolina, we tried to get on him,” Muschamp said. “Mike (Bobo) already had him locked up to go to Colorado State. We tried to get on that one late in the game.”
This offseason, Hill left Colorado State after four years to come to USC. Bobo is now in Columbia as well as Muschamp’s offensive coordinator and lieutenant. Hill started games in three of his four seasons in Fort Collins, tearing his ACL three times but getting well-versed in Bobo’s scheme.
That scheme is now coming to Columbia. Hill missed USC’s spring practices with the third ACL injury but is fully cleared now. And in limited work in front of coaches during recent workouts, he’s shown a few things.
“Really a talented thrower, which we knew that,” Muschamp said. “Mike puts a lot on a quarterback offensively, and he has a great understanding of what we want to do offensively.”
He’s coming in and primarily competing against sophomore Ryan Hilinski, a former Elite 11 passer who started 11 games last season for Jake Bentley. Hilinksi was asked to throw a lot last year, putting up solid yardage with an underwhelming yards-per-attempt figure, but he took his share of hits and protected the ball.
Bobo and Muschamp spoke highly of Hilinski coming out of spring, and Muschamp reiterated Wednesday that the second-year QB has thrown the ball well in the summer.
During much of the offseason, it seemed Hilinski might have the upper hand, but indications have started coming out that Hill is right in the thick of the competition.
Hill threw for 3,323 yards with 23 touchdowns and 11 interceptions as a Ram, starting parts of three seasons. He played early in 2016, missed all of 2017, finished out 2018 and had a torn ACL end his 2019 in the middle of the third game. At 6-foot-4, 230 pounds, he’s a sturdy pro-style passer, though he can move a little bit.
The QB room also includes Jay Urich, who spent last year at receiver, and Luke Doty, who is splitting time between QB and wide receiver. Muschamp said all four players have done some things well and the room has both him and Bobo excited.
Now it just comes down to battling it out. The team will have 25 practices before starting the season in late September, and the staff hopes to see all four pushing each other.
“We’ve got a great competition going,” Muschamp siad. “That’s what we were talking (about) this morning. Competition makes us all better, makes us all sharper. We know we’ve got to bring our A game.”
This story was originally published August 6, 2020 at 8:10 AM.
