SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS BASKETBALL

When Mike Bobo took the Gamecock offensive coordinator job, he did it when most players were finishing up finals and heading back home for a quick break before winter workouts.

But, there was one key player whose family lives in town, which means he and Bobo were able to sit down and start talking early before getting to work in 2020.

That would be Bobo’s presumed starting quarterback, Ryan Hilinski.

“Had a chance to sit down with him on three occasions already and he's going to be here,” Bobo said. “His family lives here now so we're starting that process right now of building a relationship with him.”

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The two talked once Bobo, who will also coach quarterbacks, took the job and the new Gamecock play caller is working on watching film of Hilinski to see what he has in his returning quarterback who has 11 starts under his belt.

What Bobo’s seen is a quarterback with talent that had an up-and-down first year on campus.

“I've got a chance to meet Ryan and talk to Ryan since he stayed here and had his little knee surgery and cleaned up his meniscus,” Bobo said. “I'm excited about him. I see a guy that's got some talent. I see a guy that went through some growing pains, being a freshman. And we got to do things to help him and some of that is the run game and some of that is protection.”

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In 11 starts this year, Hilinski completed 58.1 percent of his passes for 2,357 yards and 11 touchdowns to just five interceptions.

He finished with the eight-most completions and fourth-most attempts in a single season at South Carolina and joins Connor Shaw as the only other quarterback with at least 2,300 yards, 10 touchdowns and no more than five picks in a season since 2000.

But, he struggled against the blitz and accuracy was a problem in his first season

Since 2000, 21 quarterbacks have thrown 150 passes in a season, and Hilinski's 113.4 rating ranks 20th, ahead of only Dondrial Pinkins's 110.5 in 2003.

“I’ve talked to Ryan about this and I don't feel bad about saying it. He's got to get better fundamentally as a quarterback,” Bobo said. “And, part of playing that position is being fundamentally sound. It doesn't matter what style that you play. If you're not fundamentally good at that position you're not going to have a chance to be successful at that position.”

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Hilinski will have plenty of time to work on what he needs to, and will be doing it fully healthy for the first time in a while.

The now-sophomore quarterback had surgery to repair his meniscus and will be 100 percent healthy by the time the Gamecocks begin spring practice in late-February.

“We're going to work hard on fundamentals and doing the little things right and I think our style will come out as our identity of our offensive football team develops through spring and through summer and through fall camp,” Bobo said.