Collin Hill will be the starting quarterback when the USC opens the 2020 football season, Gamecock Coach Will Muschamp announced the QB change Thursday. USC’s first game is against the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday, Sept. 26. (USC Athletics Department photo – Colin Hill)

Hill is a graduate transfer from Colorado State University (CSU) who took the spot of sophomore incumbent, Ryan Hilinski. Hill has appeared in 18 games including 11 starts during his career while battling through three ACL injuries. During his time as quarterback for the CSU Rams, Hill completed 263-of-433 passes for 3,323 yards with 23 touchdowns and eleven interceptions. He has logged five career 300-yard passing games.

“Collin Hill will start the game against Tennessee,” Muschamp said. “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. 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.”

Muschamp added that it was a difficult decision, however after looking at Hill and Hilinski’s performances during scrimmages which are the three main benchmarks for evaluation, Hill came out on top.

According to Muschamp, Hilinski will have the chance to “get his feet wet” in 2020, however it will not be for the opening game.

The Gamecocks and Volunteers are scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. kick time on Sept. 26 at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia.