Freshman QB Jake Bentley models his drive after Marcus Lattimore

Editor’s note: This story appears in the Fall 2016 edition of GoGamecocks The Magazine, which appears inside Sunday’s edition of The State for home delivery subscribers.

Jake Bentley grew up in a football family with a father who was a legendary high school coach and two older brothers who were star quarterbacks.

But he also had other role models while roaming the sidelines at Byrnes High School as a child. Like many kids growing up in Duncan, Bentley viewed former Byrnes running back and Gamecocks star Marcus Lattimore as an idol.

The South Carolina freshman is aiming to leave a similar legacy as Lattimore, both on the field and off, during his playing career with the Gamecocks.

“I’ve really tried to model my whole work ethic and drive for the game after Marcus. I know how hard he works and what he’s been through and how he’s been able to come back,” Bentley said. “It’s been great to see him go there and be successful at South Carolina, and hopefully I can do the same thing.”

Bentley was viewed as a future star quarterback and top recruit from the time he was in middle school.

His older brothers, Chas Dodd and Shuler Bentley, had record-setting careers at Byrnes before becoming Division I quarterbacks at Rutgers and Old Dominion. But Jake was touted as the best of the three from a young age.

“There was always talk around town that Jake had the potential to be the best quarterback of Bobby’s children,” former longtime Spartanburg Herald-Journal high schools writer Jason Gilmer said. “That’s high praise after what Chas and Shuler did. When he was in middle school you could start to see how big he was going to be. He was going to have the frame and the body to be a big-time quarterback.”

Jake ended up having a successful high school career and was one of the top quarterbacks in the country in his class, but he went down a winding road to get there.

He tore his ACL in his left knee as an eighth-grader and battled back to be Shuler’s backup to start his freshman year before tearing his ACL in his right knee in the season-opener.

Lattimore, who knows all too well the process of returning from a torn ACL, learned a lot about Jake as a person as he watched the way he fought through the difficult circumstances.

“He easily could have folded. He easily could have given up. He overcame. He persevered, and he’s in a battle for a starting position for an SEC school, which is amazing,” Lattimore said. “He’s a true testament of a role model and his character is off the charts. I can’t say enough about him, and I’m so proud of him.”

The adversity wasn’t over after fighting through injuries, though.

In the offseason after his freshman year, Jake’s dad Bobby, who was coaching at Byrnes, accepted a position on Gus Malzahn’s staff at Auburn.

Jake had spent his whole life in Duncan but would now have to make new friends and fight for playing time with a new team at Opelika High School in Alabama.

As a sophomore Jake played in 10 games, passing for 326 yards and three touchdowns.

He earned the starting quarterback job as a junior and flourished, throwing for 2,834 yards, 28 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

While the move to a new state and new school wasn’t easy, it helped prepare him for what he would face later in his football career and allowed him to get out of his brothers’ shadows.

“I think I’ve learned a lot through moving. It’s taught me a lot of lessons that my brothers didn’t learn until they got to college. I can use what I learned changing high schools,” Bentley said. “Part of moving, that was kind of good for me because I didn’t feel that pressure anymore to do that. I could kind of make my own self down there and that was great.”

When Will Muschamp was hired as South Carolina’s head coach he offered Bobby a job as the running backs coach on his staff.

Bobby accepted the position, and it was assumed that Jake would either finish his high school senior year in Opelika or move to South Carolina and finish his high school career there. Instead, he chose a third option and surprised many in April by announcing that he would skip his senior year of high school and enroll a year early at USC.

“Just talking with my counselors and coaches and parents we saw that I had enough credits to graduate early. We prayed about it and really thought about it and decided that this was the best thing for me to do,” Bentley said.

Even though Jake believes he chose the best option, he does not feel the move is in the best interest of every recruit.

He said his situation is unique because his other option was to be away from his family or attend his third high school in three different cities in four years.

Bentley said he felt even more confident about his decision because he was old for his grade. He will turn 19 in November.

“I feel like my situation is different than anybody else. I don’t feel like this is the best move for everyone coming out of high school,” he said. “I am a lot older than most kids in my grade, but if it’s the best decision for a kid I feel like he can go for it, but I would advise anyone that’s even thinking about doing it to really think about what they’re giving up. You do give up a lot. I feel like it’s the best thing for me, and it may not be the best thing for everybody else.”

At 6-foot-3, 225 pounds, with a strong arm and good speed, Jake has everything you want in a quarterback from a physical standpoint.

Add in intangibles acquired from being a coach’s son, having two older brothers who were college quarterbacks and growing up around Lattimore and other top players at Byrnes, and Bentley’s future with the Gamecocks appears to be bright.

“I think he is one of the smarter, more well-schooled pocket guys we have seen come out in quite a few years,” ESPN analyst Tom Luginbill said. “No surprise, he’s a coach’s kid. He’s been well-tutored, but he has a real feel for the game. He understands all the different moving parts. He can make all the throws. He’s got prototypical size.”

Bentley is confident he can be a big-time college quarterback.

“I feel like I have a high football IQ, and that goes back to growing up around the game with my dad and brothers. I feel like I have great arm strength and can make every throw on the field,” he said.

One of his role models, Lattimore, wouldn’t bet against him.

“His athletic ability speaks for itself, but obviously his intangibles are off the charts,” Lattimore said. “He wanted to be in our shoes one day and look at him now. He’s doing awesome.”

This story was originally published August 25, 2016 at 9:52 AM with the headline "Freshman QB Jake Bentley models his drive after Marcus Lattimore."