As of this writing, shortly after 7 p.m. on December 30, there were 75 quarterbacks in the NCAA Transfer Portal who received a two-star rating or higher when evaluated coming out of high school. One of those quarterbacks is Ryan Hilinski, who announced on Wednesday afternoon he would transfer from the University of South Carolina.
With Hilinski looking for a new place to play football, it leaves the Gamecocks with three scholarship quarterbacks expected to be on the roster next year.
A cynic will look and say that of those three quarterbacks, one is a sixth-year senior who has needed three knee surgeries and was benched in favor of a true freshman who had hardly practiced at the position. Another is that freshman who had hardly practiced at the position and threw more interceptions (3) than touchdowns (2) in his 71 pass attempts. The third is an incoming freshman making the transition from a small private school to the Southeastern Conference, which isn’t a recipe for immediate success.
With the numbers being tight and college productivity being low, it could make first-year head coach Shane Beamer and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Mike Bobo look into the NCAA Transfer Portal for another player. While we don’t know with certainty that the Gamecocks will look for another player, we can certainly take a look at some players who are currently available.
Here are some in the NCAA Transfer Portal who may make some sense for the Gamecocks. Of course, more players are announcing their intentions to transfer on a daily basis, so these aren’t necessarily the only players South Carolina may choose from.
We’re going to make a couple of assumptions here before throwing some names at the wall, though. The primary assumption is that the Gamecocks will look for a player who has some experience as well as some success as the college level. It wouldn’t make much sense to bring in someone who is completely unknown.
Jarrett Guarantano from Tennessee – Anyone who has watched South Carolina play Tennessee knows his profile. He’s started against the Gamecocks four times and has always seemed to play pretty well. In 41 career games with Tennessee, Guarantano finished 494-of-808 passing (61.1% completion percentage) for 6,174 yards, 38 touchdowns, 17 interceptions and five rushing touchdowns. He played in just seven games this season and his numbers dipped well below 2019. He finished 103-of-166 passing (62% completion percentage), 1,112 yards, six touchdowns, four interceptions and four rushing touchdowns. He would have one year of eligibility remaining and perhaps could have a Feleipe Franks type of season for the Gamecocks.
Chris Robison from Florida Atlantic – This may not be a player the Gamecocks want to touch, but he’s someone who Beamer will have some familiarity with. He was at Oklahoma until April 2017 before being arrested for public intoxication and ultimately dismissed. He transferred to FAU, but he was suspended from all football activities due to issues off the field for a portion of 2018 then dismissed from the team in 2019 for an alleged sexual battery case, but was brought back to the team that June after the investigation finished. He was removed from the Owls’ roster in August before the 2020 season, but reason for the release never publicly surfaced. On the field, though, Robison became the all-time single-season passing yards leader for FAU, throwing for 3,701 and 28 touchdowns in 2019 on his way to first-team Conference USA honors. He would have two years of eligibility remaining.
Hendon Hooker from Virginia Tech – There may not be a better option out there than Hooker, who started 15 games for Virginia Tech during the 2019 and 2020 seasons, throwing for 2,894-yards and 22 touchdowns to seven interceptions. He added 1,033 career rushing yards, averaging 4.2 yards-per-attempt, and 15 touchdowns on the ground. Hooker split time this season with Oregon transfer Braxton Burmeister. Hooker, who was unable to play the first two weeks of the season due to a medical issue, returned to action in Week 3 during Virginia Tech’s 56-45 loss to North Carolina. After that, he returned to the starting lineup, starting seven of the remaining eight games on Virginia Tech’s schedule.
Patrick O’Brien from Colorado State – The connection is obvious as he was recruited to Colorado State by Mike Bobo. He would be a well-traveled option having transferred to CSU from Nebraska. At one point in 2019, he took over for Collin Hill and ultimately started the rest of the year. O’Brien finished that season with 2,803 yards and 13 touchdowns and a 61.8 completion percentage. He played in all of his team’s four games this year with three starts passing for 591 yards and three touchdowns.
Jack Coan from Wisconsin – A broken foot derailed Coan’s season this year and he didn’t play, despite being active for the final two games. Coan led the Badgers to a 10-4 record a season ago and completed 69.6 percent of his passes for 2,727 yards and 18 touchdowns to five interceptions. When Coan went down injured in the preseason, Graham Mertz, the former No. 65 player in the country in the 247Sports Composite, took over the job and never looked back.
Asher O’Hara from Middle Tennessee State – After a year in junior college, O’Hara transferred to MTSU where he was a starter each of the last two seasons. In his three years, he passed for 6,434 total yards and 49 touchdowns. After a season of over 2,600 passing yards and completing 62 percent of his passes in 2019, he had 1,960 passing yards and 12 touchdowns with eight interceptions in 2020. He also led the Blue Raiders in rushing with 601 yards and seven touchdowns. He would have two years of eligibility remaining.
Jace Ruder from North Carolina – He doesn’t have a wealth of experience, but has played well in the past at North Carolina, always seeing his seasons derailed by injuries. He suffered a broken leg on his first and only snap in 2019, but Sam Howell was already the guy for the Tar Heels. In 2018 as a true freshman, he went 4-of-5 passes for 80 yards and touchdown and running for 21 yards on three carries, but then broke his collarbone in his against the Yellow Jackets during a quarterback run. But maybe he’s the right guy?
Jake Bentley from Utah – It seems quite unlikely to happen, but he’s in there.
