W
Wes Mitchell
Guest
As the 2019 season quickly approaches, I'm going to post an assessment of each position on the team, as things stand currently, breaking down the strengths, weaknesses and outlook for the group. Today we start with the quarterback position.
The depth chart
Sr. Jake Bentley
RsFr. Dakereon Joyner OR Fr. Ryan Hilinski
Strengths
South Carolina returns a senior starting quarterback with about as much experience as is possible at the position, considering Jake Bentley has started ever since the middle of his freshman campaign. Bentley not only has experience playing at the SEC level, but also now has a year under his belt in Bryan McClendon's offense and with quarterbacks coach Dan Werner.
The Gamecocks operated under a similar offensive scheme last year as they did under Kurt Roper in terms of concepts and terminology, though there were certainly changes and additions to the scheme that they continued to build on this offseason.
Michael Scarnecchia, who proved to be a valuable backup last season, is gone, but the Gamecocks have talent behind Bentley in redshirt freshman Dakereon Joyner and true freshman early enrollee Ryan Hilinski, who enrolled early for spring practice.
Joyner brings a skillset to the position that the other QBs lack in that he can make plays with his legs and we've heard that finding a way to take advantage of Joyner's ability is something the staff will take a long look at this season.
Hilinski, we've been told, is everything he was hyped up to be during the recruiting process and possibly then a little more. He's the most talented passer on the roster and made big strides in learning the offense as the spring progressed with us hearing numerous reports about eye-popping throws. T
his is Bentley's room, but the young quarterbacks will be interesting to watch if they continue to grow.
Jay Urich is still in the QB room at times, but appears to be focusing on learning the wide receiver position.
Areas of Improvement/Concern
Consistency and ball security. Bentley has talked all offseason about the need to better protect the football in his final season, especially in the red zone, and that will clearly be a key to Carolina's offensive success this year and a focus throughout fall camp.
Bentley has also worked on taking a more measured approach to playing the position to try and cut down on some of the more wild swings in levels of play. Bentley is an emotional player, who feeds off of that, and his teammates do too, but he's trying to further hone in on the approach of tackling every play the exact same way.
While the Gamecocks' backups have talent, the fact that there's little experience behind Bentley is less than ideal, but is a fairly common occurrence due to the cyclical nature of a college football roster. Getting a lead in a game early in the season and getting Joyner and/or Hilinski some playing time could pay dividends down the road if either is called upon in real action.
The bottom line
While some can be hard on Bentley, and he'll be the first to admit that he needs to improve on the areas listed above, there are far worse situations at the quarterback position that the Gamecocks could be in.
A senior experienced starter along with a couple of former four-star backups who will battle it out for the No. 2 job, give the Gamecocks a good quarterback room with the potential to be far better than that.
The depth chart
Sr. Jake Bentley
RsFr. Dakereon Joyner OR Fr. Ryan Hilinski
Strengths
South Carolina returns a senior starting quarterback with about as much experience as is possible at the position, considering Jake Bentley has started ever since the middle of his freshman campaign. Bentley not only has experience playing at the SEC level, but also now has a year under his belt in Bryan McClendon's offense and with quarterbacks coach Dan Werner.
The Gamecocks operated under a similar offensive scheme last year as they did under Kurt Roper in terms of concepts and terminology, though there were certainly changes and additions to the scheme that they continued to build on this offseason.
Michael Scarnecchia, who proved to be a valuable backup last season, is gone, but the Gamecocks have talent behind Bentley in redshirt freshman Dakereon Joyner and true freshman early enrollee Ryan Hilinski, who enrolled early for spring practice.
Joyner brings a skillset to the position that the other QBs lack in that he can make plays with his legs and we've heard that finding a way to take advantage of Joyner's ability is something the staff will take a long look at this season.
Hilinski, we've been told, is everything he was hyped up to be during the recruiting process and possibly then a little more. He's the most talented passer on the roster and made big strides in learning the offense as the spring progressed with us hearing numerous reports about eye-popping throws. T
his is Bentley's room, but the young quarterbacks will be interesting to watch if they continue to grow.
Jay Urich is still in the QB room at times, but appears to be focusing on learning the wide receiver position.
Areas of Improvement/Concern
Consistency and ball security. Bentley has talked all offseason about the need to better protect the football in his final season, especially in the red zone, and that will clearly be a key to Carolina's offensive success this year and a focus throughout fall camp.
Bentley has also worked on taking a more measured approach to playing the position to try and cut down on some of the more wild swings in levels of play. Bentley is an emotional player, who feeds off of that, and his teammates do too, but he's trying to further hone in on the approach of tackling every play the exact same way.
While the Gamecocks' backups have talent, the fact that there's little experience behind Bentley is less than ideal, but is a fairly common occurrence due to the cyclical nature of a college football roster. Getting a lead in a game early in the season and getting Joyner and/or Hilinski some playing time could pay dividends down the road if either is called upon in real action.
The bottom line
While some can be hard on Bentley, and he'll be the first to admit that he needs to improve on the areas listed above, there are far worse situations at the quarterback position that the Gamecocks could be in.
A senior experienced starter along with a couple of former four-star backups who will battle it out for the No. 2 job, give the Gamecocks a good quarterback room with the potential to be far better than that.
