The mettle South Carolina’s new quarterback showed right off the bat
Collin’s Hill’s first game in a South Carolina uniform gave him plenty of time with the pressure on.
Former Gamecocks defensive line coach Brad Lawing had an unprintable term for that particular sort of moment, but suffice to say, Hill was asked to lead his offense in some tight spots against the Tennessee Volunteers. USC faced a 14-point deficit, which he helped erase, and a chance to tie in the late going, which he and his offense could not pull off.
But in the huddle, in those moments, he showed his teammates what he was capable of.
“Three words: cool, calm and collected,” tight end Nick Muse said. “He threw a 40-yard bomb to Xavier (Legette), cool, calm and collected the next play. Threw a touchdown pass to Shi (Smith), next drive, cool, calm and collected. He got sacked a couple of times.
“That’s just who he is. If he throws an 80-yard bomb, he’s going to celebrate but get ready to throw another 80-yard bomb. That’s just Collin Hill.”
The Gamecocks’ previous two quarterbacks, Jake Bentley and Ryan Hilinski, had a certain level of fieriness or exuberance in their games. There are obviously different ways to lead, and Hill showed his way.
It’s something he put to use across three stints as starting quarterback for now-Gamecocks offensive coordinator Mike Bobo before transferring from Colorado State.
The game also featured moments that might leave a quarterback less than calm. He was sacked three times in the first quarter (once that was his fault; pressured often on others, including on a play where he missed an open tight end; and had his pass tipped and watched it taken back for a score.
But that didn’t seem to get him out of a groove.
“He was always positive,” offensive tackle Dylan Wonnum said. “He kept us going. He said, ‘The game’s not over with. We still have to keep competing.’ That’s what we did; we tried to keep competing. He’s never negative. He might tell you to ‘pick it up’ or something like that, but he’s never negative.”
Eventually, he and the Gamecocks offense picked it up. After 99 yards passing in the first half, he threw for 191 in the second, connecting on 13 of 20 passes with some deeper shots mixed in.
Had he not caught a tipped ball for a loss of 11 yards, he would’ve posted a 300-yard game in his first SEC game.
Hill has come through a good bit to reach this point. He left home in Moore, South Carolina to play at Colorado State despite late interest from the Gamecocks, then tore his ACL three times. After returning to South Carolina from Fort Collins, he had to unseat a starter in Hilinski.
Game 1 as an SEC player wasn’t perfect, and Game 2 will be Saturday against Florida against as blitz-happy of a team as the conference has. His pass protection has some shoring up to do, so that calm and cool might have to be called upon yet again.
“He’s got an air of confidence about him as a player that permeates throughout our offense and our football team,” Muschamp said. “I don’t know that we ever had any panic at all at 21-7. I know Mike was very confident at halftime going in at 14-7 and not a lot of good things happened for us after the first drive offensively.”
NEXT USC FOOTBALL GAME
Who: South Carolina at Florida
When: Noon, Saturday
Where: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
TV: ESPN
Line: Florida by 18
This story was originally published October 1, 2020 at 11:46 AM with the headline "The mettle South Carolina’s new quarterback showed right off the bat."
