What Will Muschamp said about his top QBs coming out of second scrimmage
Through South Carolina’s preseason football camp, the quarterback battle has been the focus. Gamecocks coaches and players have taken steps to stay neutral when it comes to which QB was doing better or might be in the lead for the starting job.
Dribs and drabs have come out pointing to Collin Hill as perhaps a favorite, as he possesses a deep knowledge of coordinator Mike Bobo’s offense and by several accounts an “NFL arm.” But Ryan Hilinski is the incumbent, having gone through an oft-challenging freshman season on campus last year.
The pair even split USC’s “player of the day” honors in the two scrimmages, with Hilinski taking the title last week and Hill getting it this week. Hill is the more experienced option, but USC coach Will Muschamp said he’s seen Hilinski take a key step forward.
“I’ve seen a lot of growth with Ryan from a standpoint of asking him to do some different things — being under center at times, doing different things at the line of scrimmage,” Muschamp said. “Mike puts a lot on the quarterback as far as protections are concerned and as far as the run game is concerned. I’ve seen tremendous improvement from Ryan, there’s no doubt about that.”
The coach also praised some nice throws Hilinski made that helped produce big plays down the field.
That is a departure from last season when the big plays were lacking in a big way from the Gamecocks. South Carolina threw the ball more than 400 times and produced six completions of 40 or more yards. That’s not to say the Gamecocks didn’t throw deep at points, but they didn’t connect consistently.
Hilinski overall managed a decent completion percentage (58.1) with 2,357 yards and kept his interceptions down, but his total of 5.6 yards per pass attempt was among the lowest in the county.
The former Elite 11 passer is battling Hill, whose recruiting profile was more humble (a three-star who got late Power 5 interest) and started parts of various seasons at Colorado State around a trio of torn ACLs. Reading too much into his production is hard to do, but all the reports this summer have been good.
“Collin brings an element of toughness because of what he’s been through,” Muschamp said. “He’s got some mental toughness about him that is very well-respected throughout our football team. We’ve talked about his arm talent. He’s got really good arm talent, as does Ryan. They both throw the ball extremely well. Collin’s understanding of the system, because he’s been in it now for (four) years, it shows up a lot, as far as his experience is concerned.”
The Dorman High product knows the footwork needed in Bobo’s system, though at Colorado State his receiving groups have regularly had more of an advantage than South Carolina’s likely will in the SEC.
Bobo hinted there could be some resolution with the QB competition this weekend, but Muschamp felt there wasn’t finality coming out of Saturday’s scrimmage. It likely means things will push through next Saturday, maybe to Sunday or Monday before the final decision is made. Bobo said the final deadline will come ahead of the two-week lead up to the Sept. 26 opener.
“Mike and I met today. You look at last week, Ryan was the player of the day for us offensively. He did an outstanding job,” Muschamp said. “We had some discussion about the player of the day offensively, and Collin was on Saturday. He did a really nice job. We have a great battle going on, making each other better, making the team better. We’re going to let it go again this week and make a decision hopefully next week.”
