The South Carolina passing offense was a revolving door in 2016, most notably at quarterback where three players got a shot, and the coaches settled on a post-bye week move to freshman Jake Bentley, which paid back in spades.

Brandon McIlwain, who has since transferred to Cal, relieved Perry Orth by the second quarter of the opener against Vanderbilt. McIlwain’s running ability kept him in the mix for about a month, but he eventually gave way to Orth, who struggled to get South Carolina going, too.

Following the bye week, Bentley took over for good, and between the bowl game and spring practice, seems to have the position in as good a shape as it’s been in several years.

Bentley completed nearly 66 percent of his passes in seven games and thew for 1,420 yards, nine touchdowns and four interceptions. His best stretch came immediately after the bye when he led the Gamecocks to wins over UMass, Tennessee and Missouri.

Passing yards per game (SEC rank): 213.2, (7)
TDs: 12 (11)
INTs: 7 (2)

It’s a small sample size, but his completion percentage was best for a Gamecock quarterback for a career and fourth for a single season. He was 125-for-190. He joined Gamecock legend Steve Taneyhill from 1992 as the only true freshman Gamecock quarterbacks to win their first three starts.

In six of his seven games, Bentley had at least one 30-yard completion. He also set three South Carolina records in the Birmingham Bowl against USF, including passes completed (32), yards passing (390) and total offense (381).

QB play

Bentley has received loads of accolades this offseason, especially from a pair of SEC Network analysts, Greg McElroy and Cole Cubelic. McElroy said Bentley is better than Georgia’s Jacob Eason and, “it isn’t close.” Cubelic recently ranked Bentley second in SEC quarterbacks he’d draft to play college football behind Mississippi State’s Nick Fitzgerald.

About a month ago, South Carolina coach Will Muschamp announced that Bentley would work as a counselor at the prestigious Manning Passing Academy. Previous Manning counselors have included Andrew Luck, Jameis Winston, Matthew Stafford and Sam Bradford, all No. 1 overall selections in the NFL Draft.

Pro Football Focus released data showing Bentley is the SEC’s leading returning passer when throwing deep passes. Bentley completed 58.6 percent of his passes that traveled 20 yards or more downfield, which is 10 percent higher than second-place Austin Allen of Arkansas.

Former Alabama QB Greg McElroy said Jake Bentley is better than Georgia's Jacob Eason and, "it isn’t close.”

As Bentley made strides last season, many commentators pointed out that he graduated early from high school, and could have been eligible to play for Opelika (Ala.) High School another season. He also led a 24-21 upset of No. 18 Tennessee.

Receivers/tight ends/RBs

What more could an offense need than the crop of skill players? Deebo Samuel, when healthy, is a top tier wide receiver, while Hayden Hurst is a reliable tight end target. In the backfield, Rico Dowdle had a similar season to Bentley last year as he came on midway through the season. Add in two spring game stars, receiver Bryan Edwards and running back Ty’Son Williams, and the weapons are plentiful.

Early enrollee OrTre Smith, a wide receiver, was one of the headline players in the Palmetto State in the 2017 recruiting cycle.

Overall, along with Bentley, the Gamecocks return their top two rushers and top six receivers from 2016. The coaching staff believes they ought to play faster because they’re more comfortable in the system.

There’s a line of thinking that the Birmingham Bowl performance against South Florida when they had 481 yards and 39 points offered some foreshadowing for 2017.

South Carolina threw for a program-record 3,661 yards in 2014. Dylan Thompson accounted for 3,564, also a record. Could both marks be in jeopardy this season?

Play-calling

The first-down play-calling revealed much of the issues the Gamecocks dealt with during the quarterback carousel. Against Vanderbilt in the 2016 opener, Orth and McIlwain combined to go 6-for-12 for 53 yards. In the next division game against Kentucky, McIlwain didn’t complete a pass on first down on eight attempts.

The Tennessee game was when Bentley wowed the crowd. Overall he was 15-for-20 for 167 yards, two touchdowns and absorbed six sacks. But on first down, Bentley was 6-for-9 for 78 yards and a touchdown to Bryan Edwards on 1st-and-10 from the Tennessee 17-yard line. Bentley was even sharper on first down against Missouri at 6-for-8 for 84 yards, and against Florida, he was 6-for-11 for 87 yards.

Throughout the six division games, South Carolina threw it at least eight times on first down each game, but never more than 13, and that was trailing big against Georgia.

Play-calling had a two-fold challenge last year: Several freshmen and young players saw a good chunk of time, and everybody was learning a new playbook. That partly explains why South Carolina was last in the SEC and 116th nationally in scoring 20.8 points per game. It was second from the bottom in the conference and 115th in the nation in yards at 347.5 per game.

One stat that must improve

The two biggest targets, Deebo Samuel and Hayden Hurst, had just one touchdown each despite catching 59 and 48 catches, respectively.

Samuel averaged 79 yards per game, while Hurst averaged 47. While there are younger receivers coming up, most notably Edwards, Samuel and Hurst will be counted on for production. Samuel has battled injury issues and missed three games last season.

Greatest concern

The 2016 offensive line, which gave up an SEC-worst 41 sacks, was largely responsible for USC averaging just 3.68 yards per carry, 108th nationally.

The line returns four starters, though they have juggled some positions. The lineup appears to look like Alan Knott at center, Zack Bailey at right tackle, Malik Young or Sadarius Hutcherson at left tackle, and Donell Stanley and Cory Helms at guard. Bailey looks to be the leader with 15 consecutive starts despite recent thumb surgery. Eric Wolford returned to Columbia to coach the unit, a position he also coached in 2009.

To help the line, Bentley needs to show will be consistent play on third down and near the goal line. But they’ve also are added a batch of up-tempo plays that could help the line.

Bentley led an impressive turnaround last season in the final seven games, and some of the work he focused on was learning how to read the defense at the line of scrimmage and make decisions on the play and defensive alignment. Some skepticism remains, though, as the Gamecocks were 109th in the country on third-down conversions.

Better or worse in 2017?

A year ago, Bentley was most known for being the son of running backs coach Bobby Bentley, and was all but forgotten at third on the depth chart. McIlwain, the two-sport standout, had plenty of hype and was thought to be the latest mobile quarterback for the Gamecocks and remind some of Syvelle Newton.

Now with virtually every piece in place for the next step in improvement, Bentley is poised to lead the Gamecocks into being a dark horse in the SEC East race and capable of another upset similar to last year’s Tennessee game.

It makes one wonder if Will Muschamp, who has struggled to find a dependable quarterback throughout his head coaching career, might have finally landed one.