Will South Carolina Scrimmage Lead To Quarterback Announcement?

The Gamecocks are set for a scrimmage Saturday evening at 7:30pm and entering play the team has yet to decide on who its starting quarterback will be.

Ryan Hilinski is battling with Collin Hill for the position and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said that, ideally, this would help separate the two. He did not guarantee that it would.

“I always think it’s good that you have your number one quarterback before ... practicing before your first opponent, Tennessee,” Bobo told TheState.com. “I think right now, talking with Coach, I think that’s 11 or 12 days, somewhere around there, before the first game.

“We’re gonna get through the scrimmage and then we’ll meet on Sunday to discuss things and if we’re ready, we’ll announce something. If we’re not, you know, we might go another week.”

Hilinski is the incumbent quarterback. The sophomore lead the team to a 4-7 mark last season, throwing for under 2,500 yards but limiting turnovers with an 11:5 touchdown-to-interception ratio.

Hill is a graduate transfer from Colorado State, who played with Bobo while he was the head coach for the Rams. Hill is also from South Carolina, playing at Dorman (Roebuck, SC) in high school.

The NCAA ruling that this season, essentially, doesn't count helps Hill in his chase for the position. He can play this year, and next, as a graduate transfer. If he was only eligible for 2020, it is unlikely that the staff would unseat Hilinski and shake his future confidence.

South Carolina will scrimmage at 7:30 p.m. Saturday evening and then again at noon next Saturday. Those times will be reflective of the times of kickoff for its first two games, Tennessee and Florida.

Bobo concluded by saying that he and head coach Will Muschamp will update the situation one way or the other after the contest.

“So we're going to sit down as a staff and sit down with Coach after the scrimmage Sunday and and probably put together a more definite plan on when we’re going to say something," he said.

Covid-19 certainly has had an impact on this decision as the team most likely would have split reps versus out-of-conference foes to determine who would lead the team into SEC play, without that luxury it could make for a difficult decision for the Gamecocks.