It’s safe to say that Jake Bentley is going to miss Hayden Hurst.

Last month, the South Carolina tight end announced that he was forgoing his remaining eligibility and leaving early for the NFL. The 6-5, 250-pound junior made that announcement after hauling in 44 catches for 559 yards in 2017. He became one of Bentley’s go-to targets after he took over the starting job in 2016.

So just how much is Bentley going to miss Hurst? Well, he offered up his opinion on just what kind of presence he thinks Hurst will have at the next level.

Scouts, analysts and many others might beg to differ, but Bentley did spend the last couple seasons throwing to the former walk-on.

In the article that Bentley quote-tweeted, Hurst is rated as the No. 34 prospect overall by NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah.

Hurst definitely has Day 1 starter ability as one of, if not the oldest rookies of the bunch. The 24-year-old got a late start on his college football career after playing minor league baseball out of high school.

Will Hurst be the first tight end off the board? Possibly.

He’ll have to do a whole lot more than that if he’s going to live up to Bentley’s high praise.