It is a long way from Kahok Stadium to the football mad Southeastern Conference, where South Carolina’s Williams-Brice Stadium is considered relatively quaint, with a capacity of only 80,250. For Collinsville’s Austin Hails, playing in the SEC it is the realization of a dream, and something at which to marvel.

“It’s an experience like I have never seen,” Hails said.

Austin Hails (#15) throws a pass in practice while Head Coach Steve Spurrier looks on / Photo courtesy of thebigspur.com

The 2011 Collinsville High School graduate, who is entering his redshirt junior season for the South Carolina Gamecocks, said the amount of preparation that goes into each game is “something to behold.” Up at 5 a.m. most days during the fall, Hails heads to the weight room and then the classroom. After class are football meetings, then practice, then more meetings.

Hails is living one of his dreams by playing football at a large school in the South. As a quarterback playing for Steve Spurrier, Hails is living the dream of many who have played his position.

“He’s a football guru,” Hails’ said of Spurrier. “He knows his stuff, especially with the quarterbacks.”

Under Spurrier’s tutelage, Hails’ mechanics have improved, he has learned how to study before a game, how to read defenses and to audible into a better play, Hails said.

“It’s a really great experience,” Hails said of his time playing for “the ol’ ball coach.”

Hails is competing for the backup quarterback job this season, although he acknowledges he is a longshot to make second string. At 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds, Hails has the size to be an SEC quarterback, but the Gamecocks have attracted some highly touted recruits against which he is competing.

That Hails has a chance, even if a slim one, to compete for such a prominent role on an SEC team would probably come as a surprise to many who saw him miss significant playing time his senior year due to injury. Interest from Yale and other Division I schools became much less enthusiastic following two concussions and a knee injury in the 2010 season, Hails said.

“There were some schools that still wanted me to play for them, but they were not interested in offering a scholarship until I could prove my health,” Hails said.

During Hails’ injury plagued senior season, he completed 77 passes for 1,056 yards and eight touchdowns. He was intercepted six times. As a junior, he was seventh in the St. Louis area with 2,342 passing yards. Hails threw 16 touchdowns in his penultimate Kahok season, and was intercepted 23 times.

Despite his difficult senior season, Hails graduated CHS armed with an academic scholarship and some impressive video. The coaches at South Carolina liked the video they saw and asked Hails to be a preferred walk on for the Gamecocks. The preferred walk on status essentially assured him of a spot on the team, but not an athletic scholarship.

Entering his fourth year with the program, the Biological Sciences (pre-med) major will be a second-year signal caller. The experience as one of those on the sideline calling in plays to the quarterback gives Hails a different perspective than most players.

“I know what play is going to be run and can read the defense, maybe help with getting the right personnel in,” Hails said.

Hails has so far seen game action only one time, in mop-up duty against Coastal Carolina in 2013. He completed one of two passes, for 14 yards, and added a rushing yard on one attempt.

One day Hails may be interested in putting all of his acquired knowledge to use on the football field, ideally as a quarterbacks coach or an offensive coordinator, he said. For now, however, he is focused on applying for medical school.

Hails plans to become an anesthesiologist and may apply for a military scholarship, which will require one month a year in officer training school and one year of active duty service for each year of college for which the military will pay.

Hails younger brother, Tanner, is projected to be the starting center for CHS this year and his twin brother plays tight end for Illinois Wesleyan. Although he is rarely able to return home to visit his family, Hails finds time to work out with the Kahoks when he does. He also keeps track of his alma mater’s football program, he said.

Current Kahoks Head Coach John Blaylock was an assistant coach when Hails played at CHS, and is the father of Jared, one of Hails’ best friends. Blaylock called Hails a phenomenal person.

“He’s also a tremendous alumni and a very good ambassador of Kahok football,” Blaylock said.

South Carolina opens their season Aug. 28 at home against Texas A&M. Number 15 on the sideline, calling in the plays to Dylan Thomas, will be Collinsville’s Austin Hails.