SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS FOOTBALL

As the week continues on, the Gamecocks are waiting a very important second opinion on Jake Bentley and his injury.

Bentley, who picked up a Lisfranc fracture on his foot the final play of Saturday’s game, is waiting back for results to see if he needs surgery on the foot, and that won’t be available until either tomorrow or Friday.

“We haven’t heard anything more on Jake,” Will Muschamp said on the weekly SEC Teleconference. “That’ll probably be Thursday or Friday before we hear anything on that.”

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If Bentley does need surgery, he’ll be out for the season. If he doesn’t, there’s a possibility he could return anywhere from six to eight weeks from now.

Other than Jake, there are a few other guys who could likely be sidelined this week against Charleston Southern.

OrTre Smith was described by Muschamp Wednesday as “questionable” with a shoulder injury, the same one that kept him out of the opener against the Tar Heels, and Randrecous Davis is still coming off a lingering ankle injury that also kept him out week one.

Smith practiced Sunday, Muschamp said, and there’s no word on if he was full-go in practice Tuesday or Wednesday. Davis, however, has been working with the training staff since the game Saturday and is making some progress.

“Randrecous moved around a little bit today,” Muschamp said. “We’ll see if he goes this weekend.”

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The Gamecocks will likely get Aaron Sterling and J.T. Ibe back this week, two pretty important pieces on this year’s defense.

Sterling, who had a knee injury keep him out the last half of 2018, played Saturday but didn’t practice Tuesday after some swelling in his knee. He returned to practice Wednesday, Muschamp said.

Ibe, who missed almost the entirety of last season with a knee injury, strained his pectoral two weeks into fall camp and was in and out of practice leading up to Saturday’s game.

He returned to practice Sunday and the hope is he’ll be able to play, along with A.J. Turner, against Charleston Southern this week and into the future.

"Secondary-wise, we're getting J.T. Ibe back at safety which will help us, and A.J. Turner at corner will help us with some more depth there."

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They’ll still be without Keir Thomas, who’s expected to now miss the next two weeks dealing with an infection in his ankle.

"With Keir, I am not exactly sure when that is going to happen, and I know it is not this week and probably not next week," Muschamp said. "I'll know more probably in a week and a half, is what I got Sunday when we talked a little bit about where he is. They are still pumping antibiotics in him to make sure they are getting the infection handled up.”

Jaylin Dickerson (hip), Kiel Pollard (cyst on spine) have already been deemed out for the year with Bentley potentially joining that list as well depending on what the second opinion says.