In Ryan Hilinski’s second game of his college career, South Carolina’s true freshman quarterback will have quite the challenge.

Hilinski must go up against Alabama’s vaunted defense.

It’s a tough situation for a quarterback who thought he was going to be the backup this season to face the No. 2 team in the country with only one game of college experience — a 72-10 win over Charleston Southern, an FCS school. The level of competition will be drastically greater for Hilinski and the Gamecocks this Saturday.

But perhaps Hilinski will be up for the challenge. He’s already made a positive impression on the head coach who will be on the opposing sideline this weekend, Alabama’s Nick Saban.

“He played great,” Saban said, according to 247sports.com’s Charlie Potter. “The guy was [24 of 30], and they had a lot of yards. He certainly didn’t look like a freshman quarterback out there. He’s a good athlete, and he has a good arm. He was very accurate. He made good decisions. He got rid of the ball, he got the ball out of his hand quickly and he executed the offense extremely well.

“No disrespect, because we think [Jake] Bentley is a really good quarterback and certainly an experienced guy, but they didn’t miss a beat in this game in terms of the quarterback position.”

Hilinski took over the starting job after Bentley underwent season-ending foot surgery to repair an injury he suffered on the final play of South Carolina’s season-opening loss to North Carolina.

This past weekend against Charleston Southern, Hilinski passed for 282 yards and two touchdowns, while also adding a rushing score.

South Carolina and Alabama are set to kick off on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS.