Opinion: Jake Bentley Holds The Keys To The Kingdom

1st and 10, from the Black team's own 32 yard line. Jake Bentley stands in the shotgun after a solid 12 yard pickup by Rico Dowdle on an inside run up the gut. He scans the defense looking for a weakness, reading the coverage. The snap comes back, he makes a 3 step drop. The offensive line holds against the Garnett's first team defense coming to create pressure. Bentley looks right, and throws deep down the sideline. Kabam! There is Bryan Edwards catching a perfectly placed dime over the senior cornerback JaMarcus King and racing down the sideline untouched for 68 yards. Touchdown, Black team.

If you, by any chance, aren't paying attention to what's going on in South Carolina, you need to look down south and see what Will Muschamp is doing. Featuring a very young offense led by a trio of true sophomores in Jake Bentley at quarterback, Rico Dowdle at half back, and Bryan Edwards at wide receiver, South Carolina threatens to be a force over the next couple seasons, at least, in the weaker SEC East division.

Bentley should have been going to prom while he was leading the the offense as a veteran quarterback in Spring Practice this season. Bentley decided to forgo his senior year in High School last season to move on and join his father, Bobby, an assistant coach at South Carolina, and took on a redshirt.

Starting his first game almost a full month before his 19th birthday and having his redshirt removed, Bentley led South Carolina to 3 wins over his first 3 starts of his collegiate career, compiling a 73% completion percentage, 622 yards and 6 touchdowns with no interceptions, and an upset win over 18th ranked Tennessee. As competition stiffened, Bentley slowed down, but exploded in South Carolina's bowl game loss against South Florida, passing for 390 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Bentley shows so much promise going into 2017 as a higher tier starter in all college football ranks. With good accuracy and timing, he can easily become the most elite passer in the SEC. NFL Scouts are watching him closely to see how he develops in 2017.

With as much hype around Bentley at South Carolina, he's not the only piece to get excited about. Running back Rico Dowdle became the first freshman runner to lead the Gamecocks in rushing yards since Marcus Lattimore did it in 2010. Dowdle became the starter the same week Bentley took over the offense, October 22nd against UMass at home. It was his breakout game, as he rushed for 87 yards and a score. He bounced back with back to back 100 yard games in the upset over Tennessee and Missouri, running for 363 yards and 3 touchdowns over the 3 game span. He exploded against Western Carolina, running for 226 yards and a couple of scores, and remained a reliable running option for Bentley through the rest of the season.

Dowdle shows a lot of burst through the middle of the line, has an arsenal of moves to make defenders miss, and has the power to break through SEC arm tackles. Dowdle is looking at making a big impact this season, and has high hopes in hitting the 1000 yard mark.

Bentley has picked a favorite go-to receiving target too. Bryan Edwards, the 3rd true sophomore on this list, is a tall, 6'3", lanky receiver with the ability to go up into the air and make contested catches. Breaking out the opening game of the season at Vanderbilt, Edwards collected 8 catches for 101 yards in his first action. He quickly became a reliable target for Bentley when the then freshman trio took over against UMass, catching Bentley's first career touchdown pass. Talk about accomplishments.

The chemistry between Bentley and Edwards was clearly strong in a very favorable Spring Game showing, where the duo completed 3 passes together in the first quarter alone. Edwards has a deep threat ability because of his frame, very solid hands and has decent burner speed that will force even the best cornerbacks across the SEC to break a sweat covering him.

Will Muschamp and his staff have showed immense improvement already in the recruiting job they pulled off in just a couple of short months in late 2015-early 2016. Landing Edwards December 15th, 2015, Dowdle January 8th, 2016, and Bentley March 24th, 2016, Muschamp managed to bring his cornerstones of his offense all to him in a very short time on his recruiting trail.

Bentley holds the keys to the kingdom of South Carolina football, and his team has a serious chance to make a run for the SEC East crown these next couple of seasons. With Florida not having any answers at the quarterback position, Tennessee replacing so much talent, South Carolina can definitely be in the running to get it's act together and dominate the SEC on offense.

What South Carolina has accomplished since the resignation of head coach Steve Spurrior in midseason, 2015, has been truly impressive. Watch South Carolina closely this season. They're definitely on the rise.