Breaking down South Carolina’s new 4-star QB commitment
April 04, 2018
On the field
Hilinski’s also pretty solid when it comes to the stuff that’s prioritized by college football fans.
The 6-foot-4, 222-pound quarterback is ranked as the No. 8 pro-style quarterback in the Class of 2019, according to the 247Sports composite. As a junior, he completed over 70 percent of his passes for 3,749 yards with 33 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. Earlier this year, he was invited to compete in the Elite 11.
Georgia, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Arizona, Arizona State and Oregon were among the offers Hilinski collected, before he committed to South Carolina on Wednesday.
There are plenty of qualities that helped put him in this position, many of them intangible, at least to those who aren’t around him on a regular basis.
“His attention to detail, his competitiveness, his desire to be perfect,” Crawford said, “We talk about – although we might never attain perfection, that is what we are striving for on a daily basis, so how much he cares.
“He cares a lot about his teammates. He cares a lot about what he’s doing, his craft. There’s not a moment that goes by when he’s not trying to get better. For me, that’s what separates Ryan.”
It’s also what puts him among the elite, according to Crawford, who coached several Power-5 quarterbacks with his former 7-on-7 team: Tua Tagovailoa (Alabama), J.T. Daniels (Southern California), Blake Barnett (Arizona State) and Jalen Chatman (Rutgers).
“Ryan’s right there in the mix with all of them,” Crawford said.
Breaking down the quarterback
Last season, their first together as coordinator and quarterback at Orange Lutheran, Crawford and Hilinski (6-4, 222) would meet during game weeks to put their minds together and formulate the plan.
“I really want to know what he liked that week in practice, what he didn’t like, what he feels confident with and we break everything down, piece-by-piece. … He puts in a lot of time to breakdown coverages, breakdown defenses and breakdown defensive line fronts,” Crawford said.
As a junior, Hilinski set Orange Lutheran single-season records for completions, attempts, passing yards, completion percentage, passing yards per game, touchdown passes and quarterback rating. He also broke the school’s record for the most passing yards in a game.
“Ryan is not a kid who’s going to run the ball 25 times. Can he get you 4 [yards]? Yes. Can Ryan be a threat in the run-game? Yes. The biggest thing about Ryan is he understands the defense,” Crawford said. “He understands, offensively, what we’re trying to accomplish within our play calls and our game plan. And that kid took more shots than I’ve seen a quarterback have to take and he just kept getting back up, so his toughness.”
Apparently, South Carolina’s new-look offense looked pretty familiar to the one he runs at Orange Lutheran.
“After his trip, Ryan was telling me that South Carolina, it sounds like we run a very similar offense, a lot of plays that are being run over there, at least through spring ball, and a lot of what we’re doing, it’s the same concept,” Crawford said. “[south Carolina] is just calling it something different, verbiage-wise, so that was cool to hear.”
April 04, 2018
On the field
Hilinski’s also pretty solid when it comes to the stuff that’s prioritized by college football fans.
The 6-foot-4, 222-pound quarterback is ranked as the No. 8 pro-style quarterback in the Class of 2019, according to the 247Sports composite. As a junior, he completed over 70 percent of his passes for 3,749 yards with 33 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. Earlier this year, he was invited to compete in the Elite 11.
Georgia, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Arizona, Arizona State and Oregon were among the offers Hilinski collected, before he committed to South Carolina on Wednesday.
There are plenty of qualities that helped put him in this position, many of them intangible, at least to those who aren’t around him on a regular basis.
“His attention to detail, his competitiveness, his desire to be perfect,” Crawford said, “We talk about – although we might never attain perfection, that is what we are striving for on a daily basis, so how much he cares.
“He cares a lot about his teammates. He cares a lot about what he’s doing, his craft. There’s not a moment that goes by when he’s not trying to get better. For me, that’s what separates Ryan.”
It’s also what puts him among the elite, according to Crawford, who coached several Power-5 quarterbacks with his former 7-on-7 team: Tua Tagovailoa (Alabama), J.T. Daniels (Southern California), Blake Barnett (Arizona State) and Jalen Chatman (Rutgers).
“Ryan’s right there in the mix with all of them,” Crawford said.
Breaking down the quarterback
Last season, their first together as coordinator and quarterback at Orange Lutheran, Crawford and Hilinski (6-4, 222) would meet during game weeks to put their minds together and formulate the plan.
“I really want to know what he liked that week in practice, what he didn’t like, what he feels confident with and we break everything down, piece-by-piece. … He puts in a lot of time to breakdown coverages, breakdown defenses and breakdown defensive line fronts,” Crawford said.
As a junior, Hilinski set Orange Lutheran single-season records for completions, attempts, passing yards, completion percentage, passing yards per game, touchdown passes and quarterback rating. He also broke the school’s record for the most passing yards in a game.
“Ryan is not a kid who’s going to run the ball 25 times. Can he get you 4 [yards]? Yes. Can Ryan be a threat in the run-game? Yes. The biggest thing about Ryan is he understands the defense,” Crawford said. “He understands, offensively, what we’re trying to accomplish within our play calls and our game plan. And that kid took more shots than I’ve seen a quarterback have to take and he just kept getting back up, so his toughness.”
Apparently, South Carolina’s new-look offense looked pretty familiar to the one he runs at Orange Lutheran.
“After his trip, Ryan was telling me that South Carolina, it sounds like we run a very similar offense, a lot of plays that are being run over there, at least through spring ball, and a lot of what we’re doing, it’s the same concept,” Crawford said. “[south Carolina] is just calling it something different, verbiage-wise, so that was cool to hear.”