Ready for spring? Will Muschamp shares the latest on the availability of South Carolina QB Collin Hill
Published:
South Carolina’s season was a major disappointment last fall and much of that had to do with the fact the team was devastated by injuries at the game’s most important position.
Jake Bentley was lost for the season after the first game, Dakereon Joyner was banged up for much of the season while Ryan Hilinski dealt with nagging issues for nearly his entire time in the lineup.
While Bentley may have left the program as a graduate transfer, South Carolina added another elite high school quarterback prospect to the program’s QB room in Luke Doty and landed a graduate transfer to replace Bentley in former Colorado State signal-caller, Collin Hill.
Hill may not have been a name many South Carolina fans knew before he joined the program, but he threw for 3,323 passing yards and 23 touchdowns playing for Mike Bobo at Colorado State.
Worst case scenario for Hill, he serves as a backup for the Gamecocks and helps the team’s younger quarterbacks grasp Bobo’s system.
Unfortunately for Hill, his career has been plagued by injuries and he is coming off a knee surgery heading into spring football.
“Collin’s still rehabbing the knee, and they think he’s ahead of where he should be right now as far as his strength is concerned, as far as his quad is concerned,” Muschamp noted during his Wednesday press conference. “And that’s the biggest thing is the strength levels. And they think he’s ahead of where he’s supposed to be. He’s working extremely hard to rehab the knee.”
When asked a follow-up on Hill’s availability for spring football, Muschamp shared that the graduate transfer is unlikely to be cleared for the Gamecocks’ upcoming camp.
“I don’t think Collin’s going to take any snaps during the spring based on what I’ve been told,” Muschamp said. “He will not be fully cleared until June, possibly May. I think, I’m just trying to get my months right. I think it’s right at five and a half to six months, May maybe. So, he won’t take any snaps in the spring.”
Gamecock fans may be discouraged by that news but there is a positive to Hill sitting out the spring. After playing in Bobo’s offense for multiple years, it’s not as if Hill really needs the reps in the system. Meanwhile, South Carolina’s young quarterback could use all the reps they can get in the offense.
It may turn out that giving Hilinski, Joyner and Doty as many reps as possible this spring turns out to be exactly what South Carolina needs heading into a season where the quarterback position cannot hold back the Gamecocks from achieving their goals on the field.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
