Gamecocks have high expectations for 'explosive' offense

What a difference a year makes for South Carolina’s offense. Coming into last season, they had only one quarterback on the roster that had started consistently, only one seasoned veteran wide receiver and no clear-cut favorite to win the tight end position.

Now, heading into the second season under offensive coordinator Kurt Roper, the Gamecocks feel like they can do some damage offensively this season.

“I feel like we have weapons all over the place,” wide receiver Deebo Samuel said at SEC Media Days Thursday. “We have a good offensive line, a leader at quarterback, Hayden (Hurst), Bryan (Edwards), we got some people like Chavis Dawkins and Randrecous Davis that can help as well.”

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The Gamecocks return their starting quarterback Jake Bentley, who took over the starting role the last half of the season, alongside Samuel and Bryan Edwards, who burst onto the scene last year as a freshman.

Tight ends Hayden Hurst and KC Crosby, who combined for 833 yards and five touchdowns, return as well along with the majority of the offensive line.

They’ll all be part of an offense that had a resurgence once Bentley was inserted after the Gamecocks started 2-4, averaging almost 27 points and more than 380 yards per game over the last half of the season.

Head coach Will Muschamp likes having so many returners and enough depth at skill positions to foster healthy competition.

“The thing I like about this guy is that there’s a lot of knowns coming back, there’s a lot of competition. Competition usually breeds consistency in performance,” he said. “When you have guys competing for playing time and they understand every single day they have to come to practice and perform at a very high level, you’re going to get the best out of your guys every day.”

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Bentley started seven games, including the team’s bowl game, and went 4-3 as a starter with 1,420 yards and nine touchdowns. As a true freshman, he completed 65.8 percent of his passes and had a quarterback efficiency of 139.99.

In his second season in Roper’s system, he feels more comfortable taking the reins to the playbook and executing at a high level and thinks he has the players around him for a high-octane offense.

Samuel said he thinks this offense will be “explosive” after returning so many players and Bentley said the team’s goal is to score every time they have the ball.

“Our big thing is we think we can execute any play against any defense,” he said. “So we just go out there and execute, we’ll be fine.”

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As Bentley and the rest of the offensive skill position players get ready to start their second year under Muschamp, they’ll do it with expectations of explosiveness and high point totals.

As the players, who are already more comfortable than they were a year ago, get situated in Roper’s scheme, Muschamp thinks the wins will come.

“I don't think there's any question that, if you have an established guy at (quarterback), it helps your skill recruiting offensively and helps your offensive line recruiting,” he said, “and then it helps you on defense, because guys want to understand that having a guy at that position that can excel, you're going to win games.”