Bobo has plan for quarterback position this week

Mike Bobo has an idea of which player is going to start this week at quarterback for South Carolina, but he's not ready to share it just yet.

The Gamecocks' interim head coach said on his weekly teleconference he and the staff know how the reps will be divvied out this week but need to communicate it to the team first before making it public.

“We’ve got a plan, but I haven’t met with the quarterbacks yet," Bobo said. "Connor Shaw handled the meeting today to review the game’s film. I don’t want to talk about it yet until I talk to the kids.”

This comes about 24 hours after Luke Doty came in for Collin Hill in the second half of Saturday's 17-10 loss to Missouri where Doty was able to keep the Gamecocks in it and show flashes of his running ability.

The freshman threw for 130 yards and finished leading the Gamecocks in rushing yards, carrying it 11 times for 59 yards.

Both of South Carolina's scoring drives came with Doty as the starting quarterback.

“Offensively Luke Doty coming in for the second half gave us a spark with his ability to extend plays with his legs in the passing game and make some plays with his legs in the run game," Bobo said.

Collin Hill has started all eight games this season, but not without some strife from the fanbase.

This season he's completing 59.1 percent of his passes and averaging 6.6 yards per attempt with six touchdowns and six interceptions, but he's struggled the last few weeks.

Over his last four games, all losses, Hill is 43-for-81 (53 percent), for 569 yards (averaging seven yards per attempt) with two touchdowns and four interceptions.

Against Missouri he was 6-for-10 for 39 yards before being benched.

“I owe it to everybody on the team that the best guy plays. It’s not anything personal whether you play or don’t play. The best guy’s going to play. You owe it to everybody on the team. You owe it to all the coaches, all the coaches’ families, all the fans,” Bobo said.

“The best guy has to play. That’s the way it always has been for me. I try to take emotion out of it. You always try to be transparent and honest with kids on where they stand and what they have to do to perform.”

The Gamecocks will practice Tuesday and Wednesday before a walk-through Thursday and two faster-paced walk-throughs Friday and Saturday.

Kickoff against Georgia will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday night.