South Carolina will be adding an elite quarterback talent to its roster sooner rather than later.
On Wednesday, four-star signal caller Jake Bentley (Opelika, Ala.) announced that he will be graduating from high school early and joining the Gamecocks program this summer. The former Class of 2017 standout will technically reclassify to the 2016 class.
“I’ve established enough credits through high school to get the opportunity to do it,” Bentley said. “After talking it over with my family, we felt it was the right thing to do and it’s a good thing for all of us.”
The 6-foot-3.5, 218-pounder is the son of Gamecocks running backs coach Bobby Bentley. Also, his brother Chas Dodd is a graduate assistant with the South Carolina program and another brother, Shuler Bentley, started eight games at quarterback for Old Dominion last season. He played at Opelika while his father, the former head coach at Byrnes High in Duncan, S.C., was an offensive analyst at Auburn under Gus Malzahn.
Family was a big factor in the decision.
“It’s going to be great (to be around family),” the younger Bentley said. “The last three years (in Alabama) have been great and moving down here has been great for me in terms of getting into a new system and getting out from under my dad and the whole ‘his dad’s system just runs up the stats’ criticism. My mom is excited. She doesn’t have to drive as much to see us play. All of my cousins and my grandparents also are right there (in South Carolina).
“I will have an awesome support group (at USC).”
Maintaining a tie to the Opelika program, where he threw for 3,000 yards and 28 touchdowns (and rushed for 400 yards and four touchdowns) as a junior, also factored into Bentley’s decision.
“Another factor was just not wanting to play at another high school,” he said. “I’ve invested a lot into my time here at Opelika and I wanted to go out that way.”
Bentley, who will turn 18-years old on his next birthday, weighed the challenges of jumping from high school football to the Southeastern Conference.
“That’s something I discussed with (Opelika head coach) Brian Blackmon when I was going through the process of making this decision,” Bentley said. “He told me that the main person I had to believe in was myself. God has blessed me with this opportunity and I hope to take advantage of it.”
Bentley feels that he will have no problem picking up the offensive system of South Carolina co-offensive coordinator Kurt Roper or fitting in with the current Gamecocks signal callers.
“What (Roper) does is similar to what my dad ran at Byrnes,” Bentley said. “There are also some similarities, some plays and some concepts to what we did at Opelika. So, I do have some familiarity with it.
“I am just going to go in and work my butt off. That’s all I can do. (fellow true freshman quarterback) Brandon McIlwain is a great guy. Same thing with Perry Orth, Connor Mitch and Lorenzo Nunez. They are all great guys and are very supportive of one another, so I am looking forward to getting in there and working with them.”
Bentley will enroll at USC this summer. The exact date is to be determined as is his high school graduation date.
Bentley is currently ranked as the No. 6 pro-style quarterback nationally in the 2017 class per 247Sports Composite rankings. He will be re-classified and re-ranked for the 2016 cycle.
On Wednesday, four-star signal caller Jake Bentley (Opelika, Ala.) announced that he will be graduating from high school early and joining the Gamecocks program this summer. The former Class of 2017 standout will technically reclassify to the 2016 class.
“I’ve established enough credits through high school to get the opportunity to do it,” Bentley said. “After talking it over with my family, we felt it was the right thing to do and it’s a good thing for all of us.”
The 6-foot-3.5, 218-pounder is the son of Gamecocks running backs coach Bobby Bentley. Also, his brother Chas Dodd is a graduate assistant with the South Carolina program and another brother, Shuler Bentley, started eight games at quarterback for Old Dominion last season. He played at Opelika while his father, the former head coach at Byrnes High in Duncan, S.C., was an offensive analyst at Auburn under Gus Malzahn.
Family was a big factor in the decision.
“It’s going to be great (to be around family),” the younger Bentley said. “The last three years (in Alabama) have been great and moving down here has been great for me in terms of getting into a new system and getting out from under my dad and the whole ‘his dad’s system just runs up the stats’ criticism. My mom is excited. She doesn’t have to drive as much to see us play. All of my cousins and my grandparents also are right there (in South Carolina).
“I will have an awesome support group (at USC).”
Maintaining a tie to the Opelika program, where he threw for 3,000 yards and 28 touchdowns (and rushed for 400 yards and four touchdowns) as a junior, also factored into Bentley’s decision.
“Another factor was just not wanting to play at another high school,” he said. “I’ve invested a lot into my time here at Opelika and I wanted to go out that way.”
Bentley, who will turn 18-years old on his next birthday, weighed the challenges of jumping from high school football to the Southeastern Conference.
“That’s something I discussed with (Opelika head coach) Brian Blackmon when I was going through the process of making this decision,” Bentley said. “He told me that the main person I had to believe in was myself. God has blessed me with this opportunity and I hope to take advantage of it.”
Bentley feels that he will have no problem picking up the offensive system of South Carolina co-offensive coordinator Kurt Roper or fitting in with the current Gamecocks signal callers.
“What (Roper) does is similar to what my dad ran at Byrnes,” Bentley said. “There are also some similarities, some plays and some concepts to what we did at Opelika. So, I do have some familiarity with it.
“I am just going to go in and work my butt off. That’s all I can do. (fellow true freshman quarterback) Brandon McIlwain is a great guy. Same thing with Perry Orth, Connor Mitch and Lorenzo Nunez. They are all great guys and are very supportive of one another, so I am looking forward to getting in there and working with them.”
Bentley will enroll at USC this summer. The exact date is to be determined as is his high school graduation date.
Bentley is currently ranked as the No. 6 pro-style quarterback nationally in the 2017 class per 247Sports Composite rankings. He will be re-classified and re-ranked for the 2016 cycle.