When Mike Bobo met his incumbent quarterback for the first time he didn’t waste any time starting to coach him.

In their first meeting, Bobo introduced himself to the Gamecocks’ quarterback and dove right into trying to make him better with one of the most notable things Hilinski struggled with last season.

“That was the first conversation I had with him. I said, ‘Your footwork is terrible.’ I said a lot of that is due to the fact we don’t know what’s happening up front. We don’t understand the protection so our feet are in a bad place. Someone’s coming free on us and we don’t understand they’re coming free so we’re taking some shots we probably shouldn’t have,” Bobo said. “He’s a freshman last year and threw it 466 times. He got hit a lot and that wears on a guy. I haven’t seen a guy that’s lost his confidence or has become gun shy. I haven’t seen that from him. We have to do things to protect him with protections and with the run game.”

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After being thrust into the starter role one game into the season, Hilinski completed 58.1 percent of his 406 attempts, averaging 5.8 yards per attempt.

He had a procedure done on his knee immediately after the season ended and was 100 percent healthy entering spring practice in March.

Improving his footwork was a priority for him in the offseason and in the five practices the Gamecocks had before spring practice was canceled, and Bobo saw significant improvement.

“He’s done a really nice job of being on balance in the pocket and trusting his protection. That comes with understanding his protection, understanding where the issues are and being able to sit in the pocket and be calm,” Bobo said. “He’s been very accurate up to this point,” “I would say his footwork, his accuracy. I’ve been real impressed with him in the meeting room and how sharp he is, how smart he is and how he comes in prepared before the meetings and before we go into the install.”

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On the surface, it might not seem like footwork is as big of a deal as maybe arm strength, mobility or other things, but Bobo said footwork is a direct influencer of almost everything else a quarterback does.

Ones with good footwork tend to be more accurate, have better timing and more mobile while ones with worse footwork struggle with some of the other physical aspects that come with playing the position.

“I think your feet tell you when to cut the ball loose and they tell you when to go to the next progression and they tell you when it’s time to tuck the ball and run or tuck the ball and get out of the pocket or throw the ball away,” Bobo said. “Your feet are a big indicator of timing. When your feet aren’t right, it usually leads to an inaccurate passer. You can overcome it at times, but there are times we’re not going to be on balance because of a rush we have to move. But when we’re on balance and throwing things on time, our percentage of completing that ball goes up drastically.”

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Bobo came in this offseason as the team’s new quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator and is tasked now with revamping an offense that struggled last season and a young quarterback room.

There are a lot of things Bobo obviously wants to see from his quarterbacks this fall, but priority number one is being more accurate with the football.

“I said we have to be accurate if we’re going to play quarterback. I don’t care what offense you’re running, you have to be able to throw the ball nowadays unless you’re running the triple option,” he said. “If you’re in any kind of offense—even if you’re in a RPO offense—you have to be able to throw it and make accurate passes. I don’t care. If you’re not an accurate thrower, you won’t be able to play quarterback."