It’s official: Jake Bentley moving on from South Carolina
South Carolina football was the place Jake Bentley grew from a freshman forced to play a year too early into a prolific SEC passer.
Now he’s moving on to finish that career as a graduate transfer, meaning he’ll be eligible to play right away at whatever college he chooses. Bentley announced the news Monday, two days after the Gamecocks’ 2019 season wrapped up.
Said Bentley in a social media post: “The past 3 1/2 years have been incredible. I have met lifelong friends and made memories that I will never forget. However at this time, I believe that it is in my best interest to graduate on December 16th and transfer to play my final year of eligibility.”
Bentley only played in one game in 2019, having his season end in a Lisfranc foot injury. That sent what projected to be a final chapter of his career off the rails, putting four-star freshman Ryan Hilinski into the driver’s seat of South Carolina’s offense.
Bentley threw for 142 yards, one touchdown and a pair of interceptions in the opener against UNC, one of the worst games of his career. He hurt his foot on the last play, getting landed on as he tried to throw a Hail Mary pass.
It was a disappointing moment after he put up the third-most yards and second-most touchdowns for a single season in program history in 2018.
Bentley skipped his senior season of high school to enroll a year early at South Carolina. The four-star quarterback and son of Bobby Bentley, a high school coaching legend in the state and the team’s running backs coach, was one of the early big recruits Muschamp’s staff got.
After going through the first half of 2016 with the plan to redshirt, Bentley was installed as a starter and thrived, throwing for 1,420 yards and leading the Gamecocks from 2-4 to a bowl game.
The next year, he had an up and down season, but still posted 2,794 yards, 18 touchdowns, 12 interceptions and led the Gamecocks to a 9-4 year.
“Certainly Jake has been very special to me personally,” coach Will Muschamp said before South Carolina honored its seniors ahead of the Appalachian State game. “The contributions he’s made to this program, the success that he’s had as a quarterback here at the University of South Carolina and we’ll continue to have discussions with him moving forward on what his future will entail. But he’s meant a lot to me personally, his family, the Bentley family’s meant a lot to me personally and I appreciate everything he’s done.”
With Bentley on the bench this season, Hilinski threw for 2,357 yards, 11 touchdowns and five interceptions. The Gamecocks offense struggled all over, failing to rank better than 120th in points per game against FBS competition.
The injury allowed Bentley to take a redshirt season and get another senior year. He’d spent some time considering the NFL before returning for 2019.
Bentley leaves the Gamecocks as the program’s No. 4 player in yards (7,527) and touchdowns (55).
“This is one of the toughest decisions I have ever had to make,” Bentley said in his Monday announcement. “Leaving this incredible university is extremely difficult. I will forever be grateful to the coaches, professors, administrators, and my teammates of this great school.”
This story was originally published December 2, 2019 at 9:50 AM.
