Why Jake Bentley makes a point to take the blame on interceptions

Often when South Carolina football coach Will Muschamp talks about his veteran quarterback Jake Bentley, he’ll explain that a turnover — oft a sore subject for fans — is not actually his fault.

Bentley has 30 career interceptions, fifth-most in program history. He led the SEC in that statistic last season.

The coaching staff will shift blame in certain spots. A tipped ball against Georgia wasn’t on him. Muschamp often says desperation plays in the waning moments of a game don’t really bother him.

But Bentley is here for the blame, at least when it comes to taking it from teammates.

“Internally you know it kind of sucks a little bit,” Bentley said of the moment after a pick. “You know you’re beaten. To play quarterback, to play that position, you can’t let that be shown. Cannot be shown to the receiver because they see that you’re upset and everyone gets down and then it just has a negative effect on the whole team.”

From the outside, it’s often unclear who is at fault. Teams don’t advertise which reads were made correctly or incorrectly. When a ball is forced into coverage on fourth down, was it forced in the right spot?

And when a receiver runs a route incorrectly, it just looks like the QB throwing up a duck to a waiting defender.

So while fans lament in the stands or at home, Bentley is on the move to his receiver.

“What I do, I run right up to him,” Bentley said. “ ‘Hey man, I’ve got to throw it better. Put it on me.’ Let all the negative be on me, so he knows that he can just go make a play the next time.”

Cleaning up turnovers was a theme of the offseason and the start of camp. Muschamp said he was worried about it, but quarterback coach Dan Werner said it had not been a problem for his guys.

The veteran QB coach preaches turnover prevention first and foremost. Ask about Bentley’s biggest task: protect the ball. Ask about what will win a backup QB battle: protecting the ball.

“Number one point for our whole team,” Werner said. “If we protect the ball, we’ve got playmakers enough to score points on offense, and we’re good enough on defense to win games, if we protect the football.”

This story was originally published August 9, 2019 at 2:38 PM.