How far Dakereon Joyner has come; why Jake Bentley hardly practiced the past two days

South Carolina quarterback Jake Bentley has hardly practiced the past two days, the Gamecocks’ first on-field action since the end of the regular season.

And that’s the way Will Muschamp want it. This time of the season, it’s not for football veterans such as Bentley.

Instead, it’s time for freshmen Jay Urich and Dakereon Joyner.

“The unfortunate thing is, when you get into the season and you’re not in that first or second group, it’s hard to gain reps,” Muschamp said. “We’ve spent a lot of time with both Dakereon and Jay these last two (practices). I don’t know that Jake Bentley took a team rep the last two days. He took 7-on-7, did some one-on-one, and that was on purpose because we want those guys to get the majority of the reps. Thought both guys did some nice things for us.”

The coach noted Monday involved kicking some of the rust off, but liked how his team practiced on Tuesday.

He explained the progress shown by Joyner in particular, the dynamic former Mr. Football who has worked as understudy to Bentley and senior backup Michael Scarnecchia. He came in with questions about his passing and on one end of the learning curve for the speed of the college game, but Muschamp saw some spots where he improved.

“Just command of what we do,” Muschamp said, “having some anticipation about call-wise of things that we do offensively.”

Joyner played in one game this season, rushing for 24 yards on three carries and throwing a pair of passes.

With Scarnecchia moving on to law school after the season, Joyner, Urich and freshman Ryan Hilinski will be battling for the No. 2 job behind Bentley. This part of the season helps the young QBs set themselves up for spring ball. And after a year working behind the scenes, Muschamp liked what he saw from his four-star freshman.

“He has better anticipation in the route game,” Muschamp said. “As far as where the routes and where to throw people open. That all comes with reps. It all comes with turns and reps. I think he’s improved tremendously.”

This story was originally published December 18, 2018 at 6:45 PM.