Coastal Carolina junior quarterback Aramis Hillary made quite the impression in his first collegiate start, leading the Chanticleers to a dramatic season-opening win over Furman on Saturday night and earning Big South offensive player of the week honors Monday.
Hillary led the Chants to a 30-23 win over the Paladins, completing 10 of 13 passes for 130 yards while sharing snaps with senior Jamie Childers, and he also led the team on the ground with 61 yards and two touchdowns rushing. One of those scores was his three-yard touchdown run with 1:32 remaining to cap a go-ahead 71-yard drive.
"To me it just really means that the offense did a great job in the offseason, all camp just working hard. I'm just a representative of the whole offense," Hillary said of the conference honor. "We did a good job together. The o-line did a great job blocking on pass protection and runs. It just made it easy for us back there, me and Childers, just to see things and see some holes open up. Those guys did a great job, and our playmakers outside also, you're got to [recognize] them as well."
Hillary, in his second year in the program after transferring from South Carolina, got the start Saturday night in the Chants' quarterback time share and played the first two series, finishing the second off with a four-yard touchdown run to give CCU an early lead.
In the third quarter, helped the Chants regain the lead again, connecting with sophomore Matt Hazel on a 39-yard pass down to the Furman 5-yard line. That set up an eventual four-yard touchdown run by sophomore Aaron Jones as Coastal went back up 23-16.
And with the score tied once more, Hillary guided the offense down the field in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter, completing 2 of 2 passes for 24 yards on the drive and rushing in for the game-winning score.
"We definitely can only work to get better," Hillary said of his and the team's encouraging start. "There's always a start and a finish, and hopefully the start can only rise from here. I think we're all motivated as a whole offense knowing that we've got two quarterbacks that can play, we've got receivers everywhere, three or four great running backs and that o-line, all that seniority's just paid off. I think everybody's excited about the year. We've hit the ground running and I think we're not looking back."
| Ryan Young, ryoung@thesunnews.com
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