South Carolina opens camp. Ryan Hilinski shares early focus, who’s standing out
Ryan Hilinski sounded a little worn out.
The South Carolina quarterback was speaking to his school’s media relations staff Tuesday for a video interview after his team’s first preseason practice. He and his teammates had waited a long time to start, as COVID-19 pushed back the start of things more than two weeks.
And a subject that’s been a big part of his offseason came up rather quickly: footwork.
“Footwork is a big thing that I want to work on,” Hilinski said. “A lot of stuff that happened last year was because of my footwork. A lot of bad plays I still think of.”
That was the second time Hilinski mentioned his footwork in a several-minute span.
South Carolina’s practices are completely closed to fans and media this year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, so it remains to be seen how that progress goes.
With Mike Bobo taking over at offensive coordinator, the footwork requirements change drastically in South Carolina’s offense. More under-center work means different kinds of drops and handoffs, and the play-action game gets passers on the move with regularity.
Hilinski said he’s taken well to Bobo and the new scheme, and his new coach has asked a lot of him.
“He requires near perfection,” Hilinski said. “If you’re not at perfection, the whole offense is messed up. You mess up one thing here or there, it’s wrong.
“He’s a really good guy off the field. He talks to you about devotionals. He talks to you about a lot of good stuff, asks about your family. But when it comes to football time, we’re full go. We’re fully invested. He requires the most of us and I love his ona-the-field coaching. He gets fired up a lot.”
Hilinski also mentioned watching film with Bobo, working through the tough-to-watch plays where he needs to improve.
Young standouts
A year ago at this time, teammates were being asked about Hilinski and how he looked in practice. Now he’s the player giving a little insight on teammates and how they pulled things together through the offseason.
▪ On freshman receiver Rico Powers: “One of those guys that has been really good for us. He came in and before he came in, he was texting me, I can’t tell you how many times he (direct-messaged) me asking for playbook installs, stuff he can get started on before he even got here. Then he gets here and he keeps getting better every single day.”
▪ On freshman running back MarShawn Lloyd: “I hand it off, I’ll turn around. It’s supposed to hit to the left. He might bounce it back all the way to the right. Nobody’s there. It’s like, can somebody do that?”
▪ On senior tight end Nick Muse: “Is coming back with his knee, which is really good to see.”
▪ On junior receiver Josh Vann: “Finally coming back to full go. He’s been really good, improving, improving improving.”
▪ Sophomore wide receiver and former QB Dakereon Joyner: “(He’s) going to be really good for us. He’s been moving a lot. He’s been doing what he can do for the team. And he’s doing it at the highest level right now.”
Other notes
The school released a few nuggets from the first practice in an official news release.
▪ Junior walk-on linebacker Sean McGonigal switched to fullback, while walk-on freshman Chuck Strickland is on the offensive line after trying fullback this spring. The team had moved former walk-on Spencer Eason-Riddle between linebacker and fullback in recent seasons.
▪ Transfer wide receiver Jalen Brooks will wear 81, while tight end Chandler Farrell will hold onto No. 31, despite also playing defensive line during camp. Freshman Rashad Amos will wear No. 25, the number formerly held by ace special-teamer and sometimes starting running back A.J. Turner.
This story was originally published August 18, 2020 at 2:15 PM.
