There’s a natural ‘frustration’ for Hilinski as he goes through season as USC backup
Of course Ryan Hilinski is frustrated.
That’s part of the job, right? Football teams, for the most part, have one quarterback who gets most of the work when things are going well. And when they’re not, well, there’s frustration for other reasons.
Hilinski has spent this season as South Carolina’s backup QB after spending almost all of last season as its starter. He’s been the good soldier and worked hard, according to fellow Gamecocks. But just about every passer who gets to college led the last team they were on, and being a backup is an especially odd dynamic after they get a taste of leading their new college team.
“Of course it’s frustrating as a competitor,” Hilinski said. “You want to get out there on the field and compete and play in ball games, but that’s not the position I was given.”
Asked if he considered transferring when grad transfer Collin Hill came in, Hilinski said it never crossed his mind. He said he trusted the coaches, trusted what they were asking him to do and made the most of the opportunities he did get.
The focus since has been on getting a better feel for the offense. He was recruited to Bryan McClendon and Dan Werner’s RPO-centric scheme and then had to learn Mike Bobo’s more pro-style attack, one that asks more in terms of under-center play, managing the run game and a few other factors.
Hill had four years of it under his belt while playing for Bobo at Colorado State. Hilinki has been catching up, both through the offseason and through five weeks on the bench.
“Today, I was watching the offense and saw a couple of coverages and saw one of the plays we had called and I said, ‘This is going to work against this coverage,’” Hilinski said. “I stepped back and I smiled a little bit because I realized how much I love this game and how much I love this offense.”
Hilinski has only played in one game this season, the blowout of Vanderbilt. His stats list one rush for a loss of a yard, no passes thrown.
It’s a long way from last season.
Hilinski won the backup job in 2019, but was supposed to sit and learn behind Jake Bentley. Instead, Bentley hurt his foot at the conclusion of the season opener. Hilinski went in and showed flashes, but dealt with elbow and knee issues through the season.
He led the SEC in passes thrown per game, posting 2,357 yards, 11 touchdowns and five interceptions. His support was riddled by injuries at the end of the year, but he also showed plenty of the signs of being a first-year college player thrown into the mix.
But for him, things are coming along.
He said the game is slowing for him. He’s seeing things happen differently, where the ball needs to go or what kind of throw needs to be deployed. Through the bye week, he got more work than usual. So did freshman Luke Doty, who Gamecocks coach Will Mushcamp said might have a special package the second half of the year.
As a quarterback who played early and then had to wait, Hilinski isn’t alone in his experience.
He said Bobo told him a story about his own early run as a starter before having to wait. Bobo was a sophomore on the top of the depth chart at Georgia in 1995 when a fractured knee sent him to the bench early.
Hill started early in his freshman season, which ended with a torn ACL, then redshirted the next season after another knee injury. And then as a junior, he sat behind transfer starter K.J. Carta-Samuels, who was eventually benched.
“We had a good conversation, kind of right after camp,” Hill said. “Very similar situation my freshman year. ... It’s one of those things — you want to play. You’re a competitor. You want to be out there. You’ve already had a taste of it, because you’ve been starting as a freshman. I just encouraged him to stay locked in and keep learning, because you never know when your number is going to be called, so you want to be ready for that.
“At the same time, it’s an opportunity to keep getting better. Coach Bobo tells us, you’re not waiting on your opportunity. There are opportunities every day.”
When such an opportunity might come in a game remains to be seen. Hill hasn’t set the world on fire, but he’s also not been notably bad. The offense has had its set of ills, few that seem directly impacted by who is behind center.
Hill will have the chance to come back next season, or he could leave and not opt for a sixth year of college.
And it leaves Hilinski working, developing and waiting, battling the natural sort of frustration while staying upbeat in his own way.
“I trust the coaches, I trust the program, I trust the offense,” Hilinski said. “You find yourself wanting to be out there, but I have an obligation to be ready if something ever happens or whatever the situation may be. I was a little frustrated at first (when Hill got the job), but the next morning, I woke up, went to practice and competed. I continue to do that every single day with a smile on my face.”
South Carolina (2-3) vs No. 7 Texas A&M (4-1)
When: 7 p.m. Saturday
Where: Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia
TV: ESPN
Line: Texas A&M by 7.5
This story was originally published November 4, 2020 at 1:53 PM.
