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Wes Mitchell
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TEAM NOTES
** If South Carolina is going to play freshman quarterback Jake Bentley, then this would certainly be the time to make the move. With a bye week to get ready, and a "lesser" opponent in UMass, if a team was ever going to make the move to a true freshman, the circumstances here make sense.
Why didn't the Gamecocks make the move before? Clearly, it seemed that in an ideal world the staff would have liked to just play one of the freshmen and get by with him and Perry Orth, while allowing Bentley the opportunity to bulk up and learn at his own pace. It made sense to give Orth the start this past week after his finish to the Texas A&M game. And it made sense to roll with Brandon McIlwain at Kentucky and against A&M (though you could have made the case that Orth could have gotten in them UK game) and Bentley was still behind the other two in knowledge of the playbook.
The last thing I think a staff wants to do is try to hurt a freshman quarterback's confidence and have him looking over the shoulder, so I get why the staff wanted to give McIlwain every chance to progress before pulling him, especially considering that he was put in a near impossible situation given the inexperience and poor offensive line play around him. I also get it that the staff wouldn't want to put Bentley out there if he wasn't ready, especially after essentially being forced to do that to McIlwain. While McIlwain did not play well in the last two games (he was far more accurate against ECU), I wouldn't categorize giving Bentley a shot as giving up on McIlwain.
But at some point the offense is going to need to spark and if the staff thinks that Bentley can give it to them, then it certainly makes sense to make the move now and see where it goes. Plenty of quarterbacks have redshirted and played very well as a redshirt freshman, but there's certainly something to be said for getting Bentley playing time now and hoping that it goes positively so that he'll have something to build off of going into next season.
** While the offensive line play certainly hasn't been good (especially in the running game), there's been plenty of blame to go around and if the offense is going to make improvement, it absolutely has to get better play from the quarterback position. Orth made some nice down-field throws against Georgia and the numbers look good, but there were several completions that were made possible by great adjustments from the receivers and several potential big plays that were missed due to inaccurate throws. When one part of an offense struggles, other parts have to pick up the slack and that simply hasn't been the case.
Strangely, the receivers, which were a major concern to start the season, have been solid, in my opinion, when Bryan Edwards and Deebo Samuel have been available. There have been plenty of issues to go around on the offense, but the two biggest this season, in my opinion, have been the run blocking and quarterback play.
** Speaking of Deebo Samuel, I know there's a portion of the fan base that seemed to give up on Samuel because of the constant injury concerns, but Samuel once again showed why the staff has been so high on him. I think he's the type player that not only can help, but he's the type that you have to make a concerted effort to get the football in his hands in multiple ways.
The 3rd and 9 in the fourth quarter when Samuel caught the ball short of the sticks, the made two people miss on his way to the first down, is a perfect example of Samuel's playmaking ability. Getting him the ball on the jet sweep is a good start, but I'd expect a strong effort to get him the football on more of those and screens too in the future. He needs to touch the football as many times as possible. I'd put him back in the mix at punt returner as well.
RECRUITING NOTES
** Saluda (S.C.) duo of class of 2017 running back Malik Brooks and class of 2018 defensive tackle Kelijiha Brown were still able to make it to Columbia for the game Sunday despite the change and I'm told that visit once again went well. That's two weeks in a row that the duo has been in Columbia and as of my last check, the plan was for South Carolina to be at their game on Friday. The Gamecocks are done at running back for the 2017 class, but they do like Brooks as a player as the senior broke the Saluda all-time career rushing record despite missing his entire sophomore season. Brown is, of course, a top defensive line target for Lance Thompson and continuing to get him on campus will pay dividends in the future.
** Chester (S.C.) class of 2018 defensive back Quay Williams has started to land interest from programs after he grabbed eight interceptions in seven games, and Williams was at the game on Sunday. Williams says that Bobby Bentley was by his school earlier this year and he likes the Gamecocks' running back coach, who is his recruiter of record. Williams likes Clemson at this early time, but he's still very early in the recruiting process and wants to visit a number of schools as a lot of the schools in the Carolinas have started to show interest.
