SEC INSIDER

South Carolina’s Bentley (foot) to miss rest of season

Field Level Media

September 08, 2019 at 11:08 pm.

South Carolina senior quarterback Jake Bentley will need surgery for a mid-foot injury and will miss the rest of the season, coach Will Muschamp said Sunday.

Bentley suffered the injury on a game-ending sack in the Gamecocks’ season-opening loss to North Carolina on Aug. 31. Muschamp said last week that the Lisfranc injury would keep Bentley out six-to-eight weeks if it did not require surgery.

Further tests confirmed Bentley needed surgery.

Bentley has been South Carolina’s starter since midway through the 2016 season, having passed for 7,527 yards and 55 touchdowns against 32 interceptions.

He has never redshirted, which means he could return to South Carolina next season, enter the NFL draft or presumably be an immediately eligible graduate transfer and finish up somewhere else.

True freshman Ryan Hilinski started Saturday and completed 24 of 30 passes for 282 yards and two touchdowns in a 72-10 victory over Charleston Southern. Hilinski, from Orange, Calif., was rated the No. 2 pro-style quarterback recruit in the nation in the 247Sports composite in the Class of 2019.

“Ryan is a very confident young man, very confident in his abilities,” Muschamp said after the game. “He’s very smart and a lot of times that breeds confidence; he has a lot of confidence in his abilities. … I thought he handled himself extremely well for his first start.”

South Carolina hosts No. 2 Alabama on Saturday in its SEC opener.