Gamecocks name starting quarterback

South Carolina officially has its starting quarterback for its season opener against Tennessee.

South Carolina officially announced Thursday grad transfer Collin Hill is the team's starter to begin the season, ending a four-week long battle between Hill and Ryan Hilinski for the starting job.

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"I thought both guys had outstanding training camps. We can win with both guys, bottom line. Ryan's had a really good camp. Obviously, there was an advantage for Collin playing for Coach (Mike) Bobo before. Schematically there are some things that helped him. But we can win with both guys," Will Muschamp said in a statement.

"We've got confidence in both guys and, as I told them and our entire football team, we're going into the unknown. We've got to have all hands on deck ready to play. Luke Doty has gotten more reps at the quarterback position, because what if we do lose Collin and Ryan to a COVID situation? We've got to have a bunch of guys ready to play in the game, but Collin will start for us."

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Hill spent the last three seasons at Colorado State under Mike Bobo, who is now the Gamecocks' offensive coordinator.

In 18 career games Hill completed 60.7 percent of his passes for 3,323 yards (7.7 yards per attempt) with 23 touchdowns to 11 interceptions.

Hill beat out incumbent Ryan Hilinski, who started 11 of South Carolina's games last season.

He'd throw for 2,357 yards, completing 58.1 percent of his passes, with 11 touchdowns and five picks.

"It was a very difficult decision," continued the head coach. "You look at our three scrimmages, which are the three benchmarks really in the evaluation. Ryan was the player of the day in the first one; Collin was in the second. Both of them played extremely well in the third. It was very difficult, a hard decision, but that's the decision that we made. As I've said before, we can win with both guys. We have great confidence in both guys and both guys know that."

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South Carolina began preparations for Tennessee during Thursday's practice. South Carolina kicks off its season Sept. 26 against the Vols with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on the SEC Network.

Mike Bobo will be on Carolina Calls tonight starting at 7 p.m. on 107.5 FM.