Hill and Hilinski, or just Hill? Muschamp addresses question of playing both in Game 1
Collin Hill won the South Carolina football team’s quarterback competition. No, he will not be splitting reps by design, if the staff can help it.
Gamecocks coach Will Muschamp made that clear Tuesday as his team heads toward its season opener against Tennessee. He was asked if Ryan Hilinski, who finished as runner-up in the QB derby, might play a few series.
“Collin’s the starter, no different than any other position,” Muschamp said. “He knows there’s an expectation for how he needs to play. No different that defensive end, wide receiver running back. Guys need to go play well. If they don’t play well, we’ll talk about a change. But it’s Collin’s game.”
Having change-of-pace QBs is not too uncommon in college football, and South Carolina has dabbled with that approach at times. But Hill’s and Hilinski’s skill sets overlap a good bit and neither is a runner, which is usually the second option to switch things up. (Freshman Luke Doty might well be a change-up passer with his high-end speed.)
Two seasons ago, Clemson employed a rotation of sorts early, but ultimately the coaches went with Trevor Lawrence and Kelly Bryant transferred out. Former Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier was also notorious for playing quarterback roulette and moving players into and out of the lineup.
Hill, who transferred from Colorado State, found out last week that he’d get the start. He and Hilinski competed for the top job since the team got back to campus in June.
“They met with us individually and just kind of explained what was going on,” Hill said. “We both had a good camp, but they said I got the nod and I was really excited about it. Just kind of been attacking every day the same.”
Hill has been praised by coaches and teammates for his consistency, knowledge of the offense and high-end arm.
Muschamp has said on several occasions he expects Hilinski will have to do something for the team in 2020, which could be more a reference to injury or impacts from COVID-19.
Hill has been through a few QB battles in his time, coming up short in 2016 and 2018 but ultimately starting games in those seasons.
So he knows that drill and how to handle the situation in a QB room like that.
“Me and Ryan, our relationship hasn’t changed,” Hill said. “He said he’ll help me out however he can. And you know, I told him the same thing with him. And so, whoever’s in there at practice, we can always just tell each other what we see, if we have any questions for each other. But our relationship didn’t change. Ryan is a great player and a great guy.”
South Carolina vs. Tennessee
When: 7:30 pm Saturday
Where: Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia
TV: SEC Network
Line: Tennessee by 3.5
This story was originally published September 22, 2020 at 6:10 PM.
