Entering his senior season in Columbia, Jake Bentley is firmly entrenched as South Carolina’s starting quarterback but the Gamecocks latest training camp featured a contested competition for the backup role behind the veteran signal-caller.

After several weeks of competition, that battle is now over.

As first reported by Josh Kendall of The Athletic, true freshman Ryan Hilinski has been named the backup quarterback at South Carolina. Ben Breiner of The State is also reporting the news. Hilinski had to beat out redshirt freshman Dakereon Joyner to land the role.

Hilinski was rated as the nation’s No. 2 pro-style quarterback prospect in the 2019 recruiting cycle by 247Sports Composite Rankings. The 2019 All-American Bowl selection from southern California signed with South Carolina over offers from around the nation, including Georgia, LSU, Ohio State, UCLA and USC.

While competing in one of the best classifications in California high school football, Hilinski threw for over 8,000 yards with 74 touchdowns to only 24 interceptions in three seasons of play for Orange Lutheran High School.