There were few positives coming out of the 2015 South Carolina Gamecocks football season. Legendary coach Steve Spurrier announced his surprise retirement midway through the season, the team fell several games short of bowl eligibility, The Citadel, an FCS team, knocked off the Gamecocks and none of the three quarterbacks they put under center were able to make much of a consistent, positive impact. But after a surprisingly effective recruiting cycle, it’s hard to argue against the fact that elite recruits are bringing excitement to South Carolina.
Elite Recruits Bring Excitement to South Carolina Gamecocks Football
The group of Connor Mitch, Perry Orth and Lorenzo Nunez all saw meaningful playing time at quarterback in 2015, but none of them performed at a high enough level to overtake the starter spot full-time, let alone help their team win more than three games total. Sure, the Gamecocks were inundated with issues roster-wide last season, but it’s nearly impossible to win without a steady quarterback leading your offense in this age of college football.
A new season means new hope for South Carolina, especially with a new crop of young quarterbacks entering the program. New coach Will Muschamp is facing an uphill battle, considering South Carolina’s current state and the negative aura surrounding him and his past head coaching experience. But young talent under center may give him the boost he and his team need to bring the program back to prominence.
Signing at least one quarterback in every recruiting cycle is a common trend for college football coaches, because that helps provide their teams with perennial options at the most important position on the field. Rarely does a team sign two highly-touted potential starters in the same class though, something that South Carolina pulled off by signing both Brandon McIlwain and Jake Bentley this year.
McIlwain, a four-star dual-threat quarterback from Newtown, Penn., is already listed on South Carolina’s roster and has already been impressive in camp, according to Muschamp. The talented signal caller’s ability to both run and pass could help provide the Gamecocks with more options in 2016, following a year in which they had very few threats offensively.
The Gamecocks already have a quarterback with running ability in Nunez, but he is somewhat limited in terms of passing; in the eight games in which he played in 2015, Nunez threw a pass in just four of them. With some calls from fans for Nunez to change positions this off-season, it would not be surprising to see him take some sort of non-quarterback role with the team considering the addition of McIlwain.
The second elite quarterback recruit that South Carolina added this off-season comes with a slightly different story. Jake Bentley of Opelika, Ala., a four-star prospect in his own right, was originally slated to be a member of the recruiting class of 2017 before reclassifying, which allowed him to join the Gamecocks for the 2016 season. Bentley committed to South Carolina on March 24, following a recruiting process which saw him receive 22 total offers. Several other SEC teams offered scholarships to Bentley, including Alabama, Auburn, LSU and Arkansas.
Bentley’s decision to enroll early at South Carolina and forgo his senior year of high school came as a surprise to some, especially considering the lingering quarterback competition for the upcoming season. But the 18-year-old both poses a threat to every other quarterback on South Carolina’s roster and brings a glimmer of hope to a fan base which has been longing for steady quarterback play since Connor Shaw’s phenomenal 2013 campaign.
For as much talent as the Gamecocks now have at the quarterback position, there are still important questions and surrounding the most important spot on the roster that need to be answered. First of all, there are now a plethora of scholarship quarterbacks on South Carolina’s roster with only so much playing time to go around. While Bentley and McIlwain will compete for the starting job in their first season, there are decisions to be made both for and by the remaining four quarterbacks on scholarship.
It wouldn’t be a surprise to fans or the media alike to see at least one quarterback transfer away from South Carolina this year based on the logjam at the position. Orth will likely stay, being a fifth-year senior and former walk-on, but with three other holdovers from the Spurrier regime (Nunez, Mitch, Michael Scarnecchia) there will be plenty of decisions to be made not just about playing time, but also about these players’ homes going forward.
It’s also worth noting that Will Muschamp’s record with high-profile quarterbacks is not exactly spectacular after his much-maligned tenure at Florida. Muschamp’s quarterbacks struggled mightily while he was at the helm of the Gators, the most notable case being former five-start recruit Jeff Driskel, who struggled at UF before transferring to (and succeeding at) Louisiana Tech. Driskel was one of three quarterbacks who transferred away from Florida while Muschamp was head coach, the others being NC State standout Jacoby Brissett, as well as former Boston College quarterback and current Miami Dolphin Tyler Murphy.
There are reasons to be concerned about the state of the quarterback position at South Carolina, but with exciting young talent entering the program, and a new staff under Will Muschamp, there is also reason to be excited about the team’s future. Brandon McIlwain and Jake Bentley will provide the Gamecocks with talent that the program desperately needs under center, and they should help to put the program in good hands long-term regardless of who wins the quarterback competition entering the season.
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