Ryan Hilinski has yet to be named the starting quarterback for South Carolina heading into next season but the sophomore signal-caller sure sounds like the team’s starting quarterback.

While the assumption heading into the 2020 season is that Hilinski will be the starter for the Gamecocks after making 11 starts during his true freshman season, South Carolina added Colorado State graduate transfer quarterback Collin Hill and four-star signee Luke Doty to the roster this offseason. Graduate transfers typically don’t transfer to sit the bench and Hill understands Mike Bobo’s offensive system better than any QB on the roster after having played for Bobo at Colorado State. Meanwhile, Doty has impressed early on the practice field with his poise and arm talent.

That being said, it’s Hilinski that was out in front of the South Carolina media to start the second week of spring practice in Columbia on Monday. When asked to evaluate his performance last season during his freshman season, Hilinski admitted his performance wasn’t acceptable.

“I got to play better, absolutely. I have to play better,” Hilinski said. “I had a couple of moments that were good, a couple of opportunities where I said, ‘Hey, I’ll go in there and throw some touchdowns.’ But otherwise than that, I gotta play better and that comes down to me. I put that on myself.”

Hilinski got off to an incredible start, scoring six touchdowns against Charleston Southern in the second game of the season but came back down to earth following his outstanding debut. Did his confidence begin to shake towards the end of the season?

“Confidence wasn’t really an issue, I just got to focus more,” Hilinski answered. “I have got to be more of that practice player, 110 percent every day. Be the same guy consistency is a lot of what we are talking about in the facility. I just have to be more consistent in my play. Just go in, day in and day out being that guy for this team.”

Will Muschamp created some buzz during his first press conference of the spring when he announced the Gamecocks would be going under center more in 2020. While it has been a while since Hilinski has played under center, the sophomore revealed he did have experience doing that during his high school playing career.

“I haven’t done a whole lot, I’ll tell you that much but I know that my sophomore season, it’s still on HUDL, if you go back to my sophomore season of high school,” Hilinski said, “that whole season we installed the Vikings old offense in the NFL — with Coach Matthew Hatchett was his name. I was all under center that year, basically. A lot of play-action, stuff like that. I haven’t gotten a lot of experience, it’s been a minute but I could feel my body recognizes it and it’s just become more fluid out there.”

While confidence in Muschamp and the Gamecocks may be waining in Columbia, Hilinski offered up his take on why South Carolina fans should be excited about the 2020 season — the sophomore vows to do everything in his power to ensure another poor season isn’t on the horizon.

“It won’t happen again. I got left with a bad taste in my mouth last season,” Hilinski said. “I’ve never had a four-win season in my career and — personally, I will never let it happen again and I can tell you that all these team players that we have right now, all the players on our team are confident in our season going forward and confident in our championship offense.”

Finally, when asked what aspect of the game he has improved the most, the quarterback quickly pointed out that “mobility is a big thing I’ve worked on” during the offseason.

“I’ve been working in the training room non-stop, just getting my legs stronger,” Hilinski continued. “I know I can run faster now, I feel faster during practice, I watch it on film. I may not be as fast when I look back on the film but I feel super fast on the field.”