1. 🏈 What Jake Bentley had to say on Monday

One of USC's offensive players who met with members of the media on Monday was senior quarterback Jake Bentley, who hit on a number of topics during his session. What did we learn from our time with Bentley?



USC had a seniors-only meeting recently



• One of the Gamecocks’ key players, one who is actually sitting out this spring recovering from an injury, assembled other veteran members of the squad to lay out goals for this season.



• What Bentley said: “T.J. Brunson called a senior meeting the other day and just laid out the idea that guys, this is our last chance to do it. We can’t let little things fall through the cracks. We’ve really got to be particular with what we want and what our goals are and don’t let anything stand in the way. If someone’s not doing his best to achieve the team goals, we have to talk to him and get him in line.”



The offense could play with even more tempo this season



• USC utilized tempo on offense in Bryan McClendon’s first full season as offensive coordinator, but was still getting comfortable in the revamped scheme. McClendon’s previously said USC likely had about half the offense installed last season. In year two, there’s a higher comfort level, which should lead to playing faster.



• What Bentley said: “Guys will know where to line up based on the calls we give them. I think it’s going to be so much faster. The linemen have a good idea of understanding it starts with them and they have to get set on the ball before we can do anything. They’ve done a great job with that so far. You can definitely see his (McClendon’s) own spin on everything, his own take. He likes to push the ball downfield. He has an aggressive mindset, that’s what I love about it. He has a lot of confidence in us at quarterback to make the right decisions. You can tell he feels more comfortable with calling plays that attack the defense.”



Bentley’s been impressed with his understudies



• A lot of talk this spring has centered around newcomer Ryan Hilinski showing off his talent, plus the improvement of redshirt freshman Dakereon Joyner. Bentley dished on both those players.



• What Bentley said: “They don’t play like freshmen. Ryan doesn’t play like a freshman, Dakereon doesn’t play like a redshirt freshman. Two guys that really just give it their all every day. You can see they study their playbook every night. Two guys that just love football and that’s the biggest thing you see from them. You look at Dakereon and things he can do with his feet, that’s his niche and what he does best, and I learn from him. Ryan, he makes some throws sometimes where you say, ‘that’s a big-time throw’.”



Related items:

• Video: Jake Bentley on his last spring at Carolina (link)

• What Bryan Edwards has seen from young quarterbacks (link)

• Notes: Players review spring practice on Monday (subscription)



– Chris Clark