South Carolina Head Coach Shane Beamer revealed Monday morning that he and the former Gamecocks quarterback Ryan Hilinski have been in communication since the Class of 2019 All-American put their name on the NCAA Transfer Portal on December 30.
Eight days after Hilinski entered the portal, Gamecocks’ offensive coordinator and defender coach Mike Bobo left for the same two titles at Auburn.
Hilinski, who started 11 games as a freshman in 2019, did not start a game last season. He appeared in two of 10 disputes with six passing attempts after losing the preseason quarterback competition to Collin Hill, who followed Bobo to South Carolina from the state of Colorado. Hilinski did not receive game representatives when he was a freshman Luke Doty has replaced Hill in the last two and a half games of the season. He thanked Beamer and did not mention Bobo in his social media ad about how to enter the portal. At this point, it is no exaggeration to say that Hilinski and Bobo did not agree on their only season together in Columbia.
“Ryan and I had a great conversation when he called me to say he was coming into the portal,” said Beamer. “I was back in Oklahoma when he called me to say he was entering the portal.”
With that reported and confirmed that Hill will not return to the Gamecocks football program in 2021, the quarterback’s room is for Doty and Colten Gauthier as scholarship options for initial employment in 2021. Hilinski could return with Marcus Satterfield now the coach of the defenders and caller of the offensive game? Beamer didn’t say yes, but he also said no.
“We’ve been exchanging some text messages since Coach Bobo left,” said Beamer. “I’ll leave it at that. We communicated by text a few times in the past week. “
247Sports Composite ranked Hilinski (Orange, Calif./Orange Lutheran) as the country’s potential number 64 and the second professional quarterback for two recruitment cycles.
He made a commitment to South Carolina in a final group that also included Arizona, Arizona State, Georgia, Ole Miss, Oregon and Texas A&M. He remained committed despite the post-promised offers from the state of Ohio, Stanford’s childhood dream school and local schools Southern Cal and UCLA. His family moved from greater Los Angeles to Columbia after he enrolled in South Carolina in January 2019.
Here is a complete recap of Hilinski’s freshman season, courtesy of GamecocksOnline.com
Enrolled in January and went through spring exercises … autumn started competing for the number 2 flag functions ago Jake Bentley… was pushed into the starting role in game 2 against Charleston Southern after Bentley suffered a foot injury at the end of the season in the final game of the North Carolina contest … each of the final 11 games of the season began … completed 236 of 406 passes (58.1 percent) for 2,357 yards and 11 touchdowns with five interceptions … on average 214.3 yards of pass per game, sixth in the overall SEC and tops among SEC freshmen, and 209.3 yards of total attack, eighth in general conference and third among freshmen … tied the freshman quarterback records of the school for starters (11), while setting new marks for passing and attempting conclusions. also defined the marks for a true freshman in passing yards and touchdowns. . when he received the call against Charleston Southern in week 2, he became just the sixth true freshman to start as a defender for Gamecocks since joining the SEC, joining Steve Taneyhill (1992), Mikal Goodman (1999), Lorenzo Nuñez (2015 ), Brandon McIlwain (2016) and Jake Bentley (2016).
He made his debut against Charleston Southern by hitting his first 12 passes and ended the 24th of 30 to 282 yards with a pair of touchdowns … followed by 36-to-57, 324 yards and two performance touchdowns against Alabama, winning awards for SEC freshman of the week … became only the second freshman in the history of the program to launch more than 300 yards against an SEC opponent, joining Todd Ellis, who launched 342 yards against Georgia in 1986 … the 57 pass attempts were the second most in a single game in the school’s history, surpassed only by the 58 that Steve Taneyhill played against East Carolina in 1994, while the 36 submissions occupy the third place in the school’s history, surpassed only by Taneyhill on two occasions – 39 vs. ECU in 94 and 38 vs. Mississippi State in 1995 … recorded his second set of 300 yard passes in Tennessee, completing 28 from 51 to 319 yards … recorded his third 300 yard performance when he completed 30 of 57 passes for 325 yards, the maximum of season, against the Appalachian State.
He became only the second freshman (joining Ellis) and the first real freshman to shoot for more than 300 yards on three occasions … he is already tied for seventh place in the school’s history with Connor Shaw and Tommy Suggs with three games of 300-yard passes in a career … between launching pick-sixes in Missouri and again against Appalachian State, launched a school record of 180 passes without an interception, breaking the previous record of 177, set by Shaw. .. nominated for the SEC’s First Year Academic Honor Roll.