Jake Bentley 'doing all the little things right' entering season

SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS FOOTBALL

Jake Bentley’s junior season was, for lack of a better term, a roller coaster. There were some ups—Clemson—and a few downs—Kentucky—along the way, but he’s determined to make this year different.

As the Gamecocks approach their season opener against North Carolina this weekend, he’s looking like a senior quarterback with years of experience should look.

"He's had a really good training camp. He's very comfortable with what we're doing offensively. Going into his first year he didn't play the first six games and obviously playing helps,” Will Muschamp said.

“Going into his second year, first year as the starter, of being the guy. Going into his third year, got a new coordinator, new terminology and some new pieces around him. Familiarity brings confidence in what he's doing and that's what you see right now.”

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Offensive coordinator Bryan McClendon couldn’t install all of his offense last season—he said about half was put in for year one—but the entire offense is in now, which should help open things up for Bentley.

Muschamp thinks Bentley, who’s on pace to break quite a few school records this season, can benefit this year from having a lot of talent around him, which should in turn help the offense in year two under McClendon.

Bentley’s started over 30 games in his career but they’re also returning 143 starts on the offensive side of the ball, 93 of those coming from skill players.

“You look at Bryan (Edwards), Shi (Smith), Kyle Markway has had a really training camp. We've done a nice job up front,” Muschamp said. “The backs have done a nice job. His familiarity with those guys, what we're doing and where he is right now in his career, having 32 starts, he should be confident."

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A focal point of Bentley’s offseason workout plan was accuracy and limiting turnovers; he finished last season with 14 interceptions, with almost half coming in the red zone.

This preseason, his teammates have seen a marked improvement in Bentley’s game heading into Saturday’s season opener against North Carolina.

He’s done a much better job taking care of the ball and has taken less risks offensively during practice against an opportunistic secondary which features Jaycee Horn and Israel Mukuamu.

“Jake, he’s doing all the little things right,” Edwards said. “He’s doing everything he needs to do; he’s watching film, he knows tendencies. I think he’ll be very well prepared when game time comes.”

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Bentley enters this year with a puncher’s chance at every major passing record at South Carolina.

He needs 144 completions, 424 more attempts, 2,569 yards and nine touchdown passes to hold school records in each category. One more career win would make him just the sixth quarterback in school history to win 20 career games, and nine more would break Connor Shaw’s career record of 27.

Entering his senior campaign with three years and 32 games under his belt, he’s seen a lot of football and says this is the most confident he’s been before a season ever.

“I definitely think so. That’s something me and Bryan talked about the other day. We’ve been fazed with every situation so far in our last three years. A lot of this senior group has done it together on the field,” Bentley said. “Faced with all those situations, we feel like we know how to respond now.”