Coming into the season, Jake Bentley was seen as one of the top returning quarterbacks in the SEC. Bentley threw for over 3,000 yards in 2018 despite playing for a coach that is notorious for taking the air out of the ball in Will Muschamp, and South Carolina was hoping to lean on him this campaign. Unfortunately, the Gamecocks will not have Bentley for at least the next six weeks and possibly the rest of the year after he sustained a foot injury in South Carolina’s 24-20 loss to North Carolina in its season opener.
BREAKING: Jake Bentley suffered a foot injury in Saturday's game vs. UNC and will be out 6 weeks.
(via The State's Ben Breiner) pic.twitter.com/0CglwKEejH
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) September 2, 2019
Bentley was able to gut it out and play the whole game against North Carolina on Saturday, but the quarterback was not sharp and was clearly bothered by the pain. He completed just 16 of 30 passes for 142 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions in the loss.
News of Bentley’s injury was first reported by Monday, and Muschamp confirmed the news during his weekly press conference yesterday. The head coach didn’t go into too much detail when discussing the specifics of the injury, but he did praise how his quarterback was handling everything:
“It’s hard,” Muschamp said. “The guy puts everything into being the quarterback here at South Carolina. And it’s very difficult. He was at practice today. He wants to be in the meetings and wants to be involved to help Ryan and Dekereon and to carry on and be a leader, and that’s who he is. That’s the kind of person he is, that’s how he was raised, and so that’s why he will be successful in life.”
With Bentley out, South Carolina will turn to freshman Ryan Hilinski. Hilinski was a four-star recruit out of high school, and those close to the program have been raving about his talent this summer. The teenager from California will be thrown into the frying pan quickly. The Gamecocks will host Alabama next Saturday.
H/T CBS Sports
