Clemson QBs vs. South Carolina QBs … who’s better in 2017?

South Carolina and Clemson compete annually on the field, but they compete much more often than that off it.

Bitter rivals, the Tigers have regained control of the rivalry after winning three straight after Steve Spurrier took six of eight.

Deshaun Watson went 3-0 against the Gamecocks, capping his run with a 6-touchdown performance last November.

But Watson’s gone now and there’s a very real question about which program has the better quarterback situation moving forward.

This debate all comes down to experience and talent projections because every quarterback in this discussion is young, if not in sheer age, then especially experience. In fact, it’s a decision Will Muschamp made last season, and Dabo Swinney will make this summer and at least into the early fall.

It’s a question with at least three options. Would you rather choose from multiple highly touted freshmen, including one who was an early enrollee, a veteran backup who’s mobile, or a second-year sophomore starter who already won a conference game?

Case for Bentley

For South Carolina, it’s a matter of Jake Bentley taking the next step after a dazzling freshman campaign that led an impressive turnaround in the final seven games.

Now that opponents have a greater body of work — and offseason — to study him, how will he read the defense at the line of scrimmage and make decisions on the play and defensive alignment. Some skepticism remains because of the relatively small sample size — less than a full season — and the Gamecocks were 109th in the country on third-down conversions.

Bentley temporarily calmed those nerves in the spring when he was named the offensive player of the spring, and passed for 301 yards and three TDs in the Garnet and Black Game.

While it was in Williams-Brice Stadium, Bentley’s resume includes one of the bigger upsets of last season, a win over Tennessee. It was his first career start against an SEC opponent, and he completed 15-of-20 passes for 167 yards and two TDs. Of course all of that came during a campaign when he could have been a senior in high school but chose to enroll at South Carolina in the summer of 2016. He was one of just two FBS players (Kansas safety Mike Lee) who could have played prep football in 2016.

The kind of play Bentley delivered in 2016 had not been seen in Columbia since 1992. He won his first three college starts, and became the first Gamecock true freshman quarterback to do that since Steve Taneyhill won four straight in 1992. Overall, Bentley completed 65.8 percent of his passes while he averaged 202.9 yards per game. Not bad for a player who before the bye week was a third-string quarterback.

That caused SEC Network analyst Greg McIlroy to elevate him above another star freshman quarterback from the SEC East.

"I think Jake Bentley is a better college QB than Jacob Eason at this point & it isn't close"

– @GregMcElroy with @CubeShow

— Cole Cubelic (@colecubelic) April 3, 2017

What’s more, Bentley at least has the added motivation of erasing the memories of the lopsided Clemson loss last season when he suffered a knee injury and was just 7-for-17 passing for 41 yards and an interception in a 56-7 blowout loss.

Case for Clemson quarterbacks

Clemson, conversely, has the daunting task of choosing from three players with varying skill levels running and passing, and all trying to measure up to an all-time program great in Watson, a two-time Heisman finalist and national champion.

The job of choosing a new starting quarterback is on the minds of many in Upstate South Carolina, and at the spring game where Swinney showed where his attention was throughout the scrimmage. Swinney spent the first half standing only yards behind the quarterback for every play, and often talked with the quarterbacks before plays.

The incumbent is Kelly Bryant, who threw nine passes in each of the past two seasons at Clemson, but has a way to go to prove himself in the passing game. Kelly had the first shot at the starting nod entering the spring, and that appears to still be the case into the summer as he shakes off a finger injury.

“Kelly’s going to be the guy for sure going into the spring, there’s no question,” Swinney said at a December news conference. “How’s he going to do? Well, we’re going to all find out.”

Other options are Zerrick Cooper, who redshirted last season, but who could compete with Bryant. Or Hunter Johnson, a 5-star recruit and mid-year enrollee, from Brownsburg, Ind., and Chase Brice, a 4-star recruit from Loganville, Ga.

While sophomore Tucker Israel had the best numbers in the spring game — 13-for-19 passing for 94 yards — and didn’t throw an interception, he’s not expected to be in the mix by fall.

The prevailing opinion is Cooper has the proven arm strength, but Bryant is the best mobile athlete, and Johnson is the long-term answer. He was the MVP of this year’s U.S. Army All-American Bowl and No. 2 quarterback prospect in the country.

It was Johnson who showed considerable growth in the spring, Clemson coaches told reporters in late March, and he appears to have the best chance to combine mobility and passing ability. After all, the offense is still largely built around the type of plays that showcased the talent of Watson and Tajh Boyd.

“I knew he was an athletic kid, and he made some guys miss and broke some tackles,” co-offensive coordinator Tony Elliott told reporters after a scrimmage in late March.

The inevitability of the situation, given three freshman quarterbacks and a commitment from 2018 No. 1 QB prospect Trevor Lawrence, is attrition could be on the horizon. Even if Swinney employs some type of platoon system a la Chris Leak and Tim Tebow, there is a good chance at least one heralded QB decides to transfer for a chance at more playing time.

Yet none of the quarterbacks, on campus at least, distinguished themselves in the spring game. Bryant would be the starter if Swinney had to choose today, but he was 4-for-13 in the spring game, and reminded many that the question isn’t in his legs as he rushed for 66 yards.

The enticing call would be a combination of Bryant near the goal line and Johnson in passing situations. And don’t be surprised if Clemson borrows a page from last season at Georgia when the Tigers start the season with the veteran, Bryant, and eventually give way to the hot-shot freshman, Johnson.

Nod goes to …

Bentley. If for no other reason that he’s far less of an unknown, and if there’s anything coaches love, it’s predictability.

One often overlooked aspect of this debate is the supporting cast, but like at quarterback, South Carolina has a host of seemingly proven contributors, while Clemson is largely restocking the skill positions, albeit with talented yet unproven recruits.

But the least amount of uncertainty from a depth chart standpoint and offensive play-calling viewpoint is in Columbia, where Bentley, unlike most of the Clemson quarterbacks, will be in his second year digesting the playbook.

But there’s no doubt that this debate will rage on up to and through the Nov. 25 meeting in Columbia.

Keith Farner

A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.