ATHENS, Ga. – Missouri’s Drew Lock, Auburn’s Jarrett Stidham and Georgia’s Jake Fromm were ranked as the top three Southeastern Conference quarterbacks before the season by the league’s media and coaches.
Then Tua Tagovailoa took control of Alabama’s quarterback race last weekend and is now the betting favorite for the Heisman Trophy.
In a stacked year of quarterbacks around the SEC, South Carolina junior Jake Bentley often gets overlooked, but the Georgia Bulldogs believe he shouldn’t. The No. 3 Bulldogs and No. 24 Gamecocks square off Saturday afternoon inside Williams-Brice Stadium in the league’s biggest game of the weekend.
“He reminds me of our Jake, really,” Georgia redshirt junior safety J.R. Reed said this week. “He and Jake Fromm are both very smart and competitive. They are both going to play really hard out there and put it all on the line.”
The 6-foot-4, 224-pound Bentley has been putting it on the line since leaving Opelika High School in Alabama after his junior year in order to reclassify from a 2017 prospect to a 2016 recruit. His father, Bobby Bentley, is in his third season as South Carolina’s running backs coach under Will Muschamp, so the younger Bentley decided to test his luck in the college ranks rather than dominate as a prep senior.
Bentley did not play during the first six games of the 2016 season, including a 28-14 loss to Georgia that saddled the Gamecocks with a 2-4 start, but he became the starter after an open date and guided the team to a 4-3 finish that included a berth in the Birmingham Bowl. Starting wire to wire last season, Bentley led South Carolina to a 9-4 record that was capped by a 26-19 upset of Michigan in the Outback Bowl, after the Gamecocks trailed 19-3 at one point.
Though Bentley’s 14-7 mark as the starter may not be quite as flashy as that of Fromm (13-2), Stidham (11-4) or certainly Alabama backup Jalen Hurts (26-2), it may be the most impressive among SEC quarterbacks given that the Gamecocks were 5-13 in the 18 previous games before he took over.
“He is a leader, and he understands the game,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “There are games I’ve watched him play over the years, whether it was on TV or watching him on tape, that have come down to a two-minute situation, and he’s like having a coach on the field.
“He’s more athletic than people give him credit for. He scrambles for first downs when things are covered. He handles pressure well. He’s a really good quarterback, and as an offensive coordinator it’s a lot easier to call the game when you’ve got a guy who you know makes good decisions with the ball, and that’s what he does best.”
In last Saturday’s 49-15 dismantling of Coastal Carolina, Bentley completed 22 of 29 passes for 250 yards with a career-best four touchdowns. His 75.9-percent accuracy against the Chanticleers raised his career mark to 63.9 percent, which trails only Connor Shaw (65.5) in program history.
Shaw is certainly a favorite in program lore, having been a backup on the 2010 SEC East champs before leading the Gamecocks to three consecutive 11-2 seasons. South Carolina defeated Georgia three times during Shaw’s four seasons, but Bentley has yet to taste that moment.
South Carolina has defeated top-three teams just twice in its history, stunning No. 1 Alabama 35-21 in 2010 and routing No. 3 North Carolina 31-13 in 1981.
“We can’t get too wrapped up in the hype around this game,” Bentley said this week in a news conference. “We obviously know who we’re playing.”
Georgia’s tightest game against an SEC foe last year was a 24-10 win over the Gamecocks inside Sanford Stadium. The score was closer than the final statistics, with the Bulldogs totaling 26 first downs and 438 total yards to South Carolina’s 14 and 270, and there was the added dynamic of Georgia coming off its most resounding win over Florida in 35 years the week before.
On the flip side, South Carolina did not have star receiver and return specialist Deebo Samuel in last season’s showdown, so his return and a more experienced Bentley could present more challenges for Georgia in this year’s meeting. The Gamecocks are operating with faster tempo this season under first-year coordinator Bryan McClendon, the former Georgia receivers and assistant coach, with the Bentley-led attack registering 557 yards in the opener.
“He controls the South Carolina offense well,” Bulldogs senior defensive end Jonathan Ledbetter said. “He’s a great player. He’s a dynamic player. They have a great team of receivers, and they just have a great offense that he controls really well.
“He knows what to do and when to do it, so we’re definitely going to have to lock in.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.