Jake Bentley shares why his father turned down Auburn, stayed on South Carolina staff
By Andrew Olson
Published:
South Carolina QB Jake Bentley has had the unique experience of playing for his father’s team. In December 2015, Bobby Bentley became the Gamecocks running backs coach. Jake enrolled at USC months later. The Bentley Boys have been a fixture of Will Muschamp’s tenure at South Carolina, but there was a time last year where it was uncertain if either would be back on campus.
Three years removed from high school, Jake had the option of entering the 2019 NFL Draft. In December 2018, it was widely reported that Bobby was offered the offensive coordinator position at Auburn. Bobby had worked as an analyst under Tigers coach Gus Malzahn while Jake played at nearby Opelika High. Ultimately, both decided to stay in Columbia for the 2019 season. Wednesday at SEC Media Days, Jake revealed what went into dad’s big decision.
“He came to me, and he was like, ‘You know, what do you think?’” Jake told AL.com’s Tom Green. “I was like, ‘Dad, it’s your job. Don’t mind me. You do you, man.’”
“He just didn’t feel right,” Jake added. “He just wanted to stay, didn’t feel right. He felt like his calling was to be here. It was great for him to stay; I’m not going to lie and say I’m not happy he stayed. He definitely thought about it a lot. It was an awesome opportunity that he’s very thankful that Coach Malzahn would give him that opportunity, but he just felt like his calling was to be here right now.”
It will, of course, be entering to see if Bobby feels that South Carolina is still his calling if other offers to climb the coaching ladder come after Jake’s final season with the Gamecocks.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
