Orth holds onto starting job for South Carolina

Senior Perry Orth will start for South Carolina at quarterback on Saturday against Mississippi State, and freshman Brandon McIlwain will continue to get playing time, Gamecocks head coach Will Muschamp said Sunday.

Neither update is much of a surprise after South Carolina’s 13-10 win over Vanderbilt on Thursday night.

“We will see how practice goes, but obviously the job Perry did was outstanding,” Muschamp said. “Obviously, I think both guys are going to play.

Orth started the Gamecocks’ first game of season and finished 11-of-19 for 152 yards and notched the second win over his career as South Carolina’s starting quarterback. McIlwain completed 5-of-11 passes for 35 yards and added 29 rushing yards but also lost a fumble.

“When Brandon was in the game, we moved the ball extremely well. We just have to take care of the football,” Muschamp said. “That’s the bottom line. He really had the ball pretty well secured but at the end of the day we can’t turn the ball over, he knows that.”

Ball security was the reason Orth played the entire second half against the Commodores, Muschamp said.

“There is nobody that feels worse about it than Brandon. The guy is a competitor,” Muschamp said. “He’ll help our football team win this year, this week. Those are things we just have to work on.”

Freshman Jake Bentley did not play against Vanderbilt but did travel and dress for the game. He will continue to be on the Gamecocks travel roster.

“We are still repping him at practice. He’s not going down with our scout team,” Muschamp said. “We have not made any decisions about anything. It’s a long year.”

This story was originally published September 4, 2016 at 8:12 PM with the headline "Orth holds onto starting job for South Carolina."