Ryan Hilinski era underway at South Carolina: Jake Bentley injury could lead to eventual transfer

After a season-opening loss, South Carolina will be without quarterback Jake Bentley for at least the next several weeks.

After South Carolina’s 24-20 loss to North Carolina on Saturday, reports surfaced that quarterback Jake Bentley suffered a foot injury during the game. Gamecocks’ head coach Will Muschamp confirmed the senior signal-caller has a Lisfranc sprain and is out for 4-8 weeks. If further testing shows Bentley will need surgery, he will miss the rest of the season.

In Bentley’s place, true freshman Ryan Hilinski will step in as the starter for the Gamecocks. A four-star recruit in the 2019 class, Hilinski was the No. 2 quarterback recruit by 247Sports. He is the younger brother of former Washington State quarterback Tyler Hilinski who died by suicide in January of 2018

According to Greg Biggins of 247Sports, Hilinski (6-foot-3, 230 pounds) already has an NFL body. South Carolina football fans who had grown tired of seeing Bentley fail to improve since his breakout freshman season will welcome in the new era under center.

Hilinski will get a soft landing in his first career start against Charleston Southern on Saturday. But the schedule ramps up after that, with three of the next five games against teams, ranked in the top-10 this week (Alabama-Sept. 14, at Georgia-Oct. 12, Florida-Oct. 19). Even the two games in-between, at Missouri and against Kentucky at home, won’t be easy. Then South Carolina’s regular season slate ends with Texas A&M and Clemson.

Wins and losses aside, over what promises to be a difficult run of the schedule, Hilinski can gain valuable experience as a true freshman in what is quickly looking like a rebuilding year for South Carolina. That experience should pay off well in the subsequent years, potentially under a new coaching staff if the university elects to go in a new direction.

As for Bentley, he could take a redshirt this year and preserve a year of eligibility he can use to play elsewhere. As a graduate transfer, Bentley wouldn’t have to worry about the transfer portal and needing to gain a waiver in order to play without sitting out a season. Bentley will have options should he choose to transfer from South Carolina, but he almost certainly will have to find those options at programs outside the SEC and perhaps at a Group of Five program.