When it comes to South Carolina’s 2019 campaign, all offseason the first thing that gets mentioned is the team’s incredibly daunting schedule.

College football schedules have a way of looking vastly different come November but the way the schedule breaks out for the Gamecocks currently, South Carolina is scheduled to play the top three teams in the nation in addition to the two others ranked in the top 11. Here are those opponents, with rankings courtesy of the Coaches preseason poll:

  • vs. #2 Alabama on Sept. 14
  • at #3 Georgia on Oct. 12
  • vs. #8 Florida on Oct. 19
  • at #11 Texas A&M on Nov. 16
  • vs. #1 Clemson on Nov. 30

Does that discourage the Gamecocks at all as they head into training camp this weekend? Not at all, according to senior quarterback Jake Bentley.

“That’s why you come to Carolina, to play in the SEC and play against the best teams in the nation,” Bentley said on Thursday. “That’s what our team and this senior class looks at it as an opportunity to go play against them and see what we got.”

While some may question that comment, South Carolina’s head coach has been singing the praises of his team heading into fall camp. Entering Year 4 of the Will Muschamp era, this appears to be the deepest team the coach has had in Columbia.

That’s something Bentley, who has started in each of Muschamp’s seasons leading the team, agrees with heading into camp.

“I’d echo what Coach said, [this is] the deepest team, as far as depth,” Bentley added. “Our best team as far as guys that are fully invested in what we want to do here and what we are trying to do. Just think about where we were freshman year and how we got it going in the right direction and how guys have really bought into what Coach Muschamp and Coach [Jeff] Dillman are doing for us.”

There’s nothing players like Bentley can do about the schedule heading into a season aside from taking the right mindset and looking at it as an opportunity instead of an obstacle. That’s all part of the maturity that comes with being in college for four seasons and the eagerness to leave the program better than they found it.

Bentley seems to understand that better than most and has the opportunity to do just that with a strong finish to his Gamecock career going up against arguably the toughest schedule he has seen to date.