When Will Muschamp first started sending signals that he was going to pull the redshirt off of Jake Bentley two weeks ago, it seemed like the Gamecocks could be headed for disaster. Muschamp's record of developing quarterbacks at Florida was, uh, not stellar, and getting this decision wrong invited the risk of having to start from scratch at the position in Year 2 – much as Kevin Sumlin's juggling of Kyler Murray and Kyle Allen ultimately cost him both.
There were some extra layers to this, too, that made it more than your average quarterback controversy. Former starting QB Brandon McIlwain took a chance on a new coaching staff last winter, re-committing to Muschamp and turning down potential first-round MLB Draft money. Before the UMass game, McIlwain's mother publicly expressed frustration with her son's diminishing role in the starting offense. Then there's the fact that Bentley's dad is the running backs coach. If he flopped as South Carolina's QB1, how would that have gone?
If Bentley had failed to separate himself as the clear No. 1 quarterback and the Gamecocks dropped their fifth straight SEC game while also losing any realistic hope of a bowl game, the buzzards would have begun to circle in Columbia. No sane person would have been calling for Muschamp's job, but it would have been reasonable to start wondering if Ray Tanner had made a mistake hiring him so soon after his failure at Florida. Recruits would have started wondering that, too, and Muschamp might have even been pressured into sacrificing an assistant coach.
But Muschamp appears to have passed his first big man management test with flying colors. Jake Bentley, high school senior though he might have been, looks like an SEC quarterback. His stats don't jump off the page yet, but he's poised and confident and is already showing the upside to be one of the best quarterbacks in the league. And, most importantly, he helped Muschamp claim a signature win that will force prospects around the Southeast to take Coach Boom 2.0 seriously.
This was the first high-profile personnel decision Will Muschamp had to make as South Carolina's head coach, and two games into the Jake Bentley Era, he appears to have gotten it 100 percent right. Bentley's play and the coaching staff's navigation of a tricky situation should give Gamecock fans legitimate reason to hope that Muschamp can bring winning football back to Columbia.
There were some extra layers to this, too, that made it more than your average quarterback controversy. Former starting QB Brandon McIlwain took a chance on a new coaching staff last winter, re-committing to Muschamp and turning down potential first-round MLB Draft money. Before the UMass game, McIlwain's mother publicly expressed frustration with her son's diminishing role in the starting offense. Then there's the fact that Bentley's dad is the running backs coach. If he flopped as South Carolina's QB1, how would that have gone?
If Bentley had failed to separate himself as the clear No. 1 quarterback and the Gamecocks dropped their fifth straight SEC game while also losing any realistic hope of a bowl game, the buzzards would have begun to circle in Columbia. No sane person would have been calling for Muschamp's job, but it would have been reasonable to start wondering if Ray Tanner had made a mistake hiring him so soon after his failure at Florida. Recruits would have started wondering that, too, and Muschamp might have even been pressured into sacrificing an assistant coach.
But Muschamp appears to have passed his first big man management test with flying colors. Jake Bentley, high school senior though he might have been, looks like an SEC quarterback. His stats don't jump off the page yet, but he's poised and confident and is already showing the upside to be one of the best quarterbacks in the league. And, most importantly, he helped Muschamp claim a signature win that will force prospects around the Southeast to take Coach Boom 2.0 seriously.
This was the first high-profile personnel decision Will Muschamp had to make as South Carolina's head coach, and two games into the Jake Bentley Era, he appears to have gotten it 100 percent right. Bentley's play and the coaching staff's navigation of a tricky situation should give Gamecock fans legitimate reason to hope that Muschamp can bring winning football back to Columbia.
