Little break in spring for Jake Bentley, thanks to Hayden Hurst

When South Carolina tight end Hayden Hurst invited quarterback Jake Bentley to join him for spring break in his hometown of Jacksonville, Fla., Bentley thought there would be more “break” involved.

“Some of the guys came down and they all wanted to sit on the couch and I made them get up and go work out,” Hurst said.

Bentley and Hurst threw three times during their break and worked out on top of that, Bentley said.

“He loves to lift,” Bentley said. “I lifted with him two or three times and the other times I just did some shoulder stretching while he pumped it out.”

The players worked out at The Bolles School, where Hurst went to high school. At one point during the week, Bentley sent a Snapchat message to wide receiver Deebo Samuel showing Hurst doing push-ups.

“I’m like, ‘Bro, it’s spring break,’ ” Samuel said. “Hayden is always working out every day, every chance he gets.”

Samuel had an interesting spring break thanks to a chance encounter with Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott at a pool party in Miami.

“I was walking at a pool party and I saw him, and the cornerback from Missouri, No. 11, they were best friends and the cornerback came up to me and said, ‘Hey Deebo,’ I was like, ‘Who are you?’ I said, ‘You get Zeke to take a picture with me real quick,” Samuel said. “Just the picture and we were on out.”

Good Weight

Center Alan Knott, who missed most of his offseason conditioning last year following wrist surgery, feels much better prepared for the 2017 season.

“I am perfectly healthy right now. Feel great,” Knott said. “Adding weight on every day. Last year I added 10 pounds right before camp and I don’t think it was great weight so I don’t think it helped me a lot during the season.”

Knott struggled at times in 2016 due to strength issues as a result of his forced rest in the offseason, head coach Will Muschamp said at the time. This year, Knott was able to participate in every winter workout. He weighs 282 pounds, he said, and would like to play this fall at 290.

Smooth Start

Bentley has been happy with the Gamecocks first two weeks of spring practice, he said.

“Talking to the guys who were here, they said this spring is going a lot better than last spring. That comes with just having a year in the system,” he said. “We really didn’t have to go over it again all that much because of all the throwing we’ve been doing in the offseason. The execution has run a lot smoother. You can see us getting better.”

This story was originally published March 13, 2017 at 3:23 PM with the headline "Little break in spring for Jake Bentley, thanks to Hayden Hurst."