Jake Bentley has had an interesting college career. He spent four years at South Carolina from 2016-19, before transferring to play at Utah in 2020. Now, he’s transferred again, as he’ll be playing his final season at South Alabama.

Utah played only 5 games last season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so Bentley didn’t get a ton of time on the field with the Utes. But apparently he played enough for a former Utah standout to have a negative opinion of the quarterback.

Steve Smith, who played at Utah from 1999-2000 before his 16-year NFL career, was broadcasting Sunday’s preseason game between the Carolina Panthers and Indianapolis Colts on Sunday when he went off on a tangent regarding Bentley. And it wasn’t a positive one.

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“Jake Bentley came to Utah. It was awful,” Smith said during the broadcast. “… I know this is supposed to be talk about the Panthers, but I’m going to be honest. I was watching that game in Utah when he was out there and went to practice. He was awful in practice and, for some reason, thought he was going to be better in the game. God bless him, but football is not his sport.”

Bentley passed for 882 yards, 6 touchdowns and 6 interceptions while leading Utah to a 3-2 season. Those may not be the most impressive numbers, but he also didn’t seem to play as bad as Smith would make it out to be.

Over his 4 years at South Carolina, Bentley passed for 8,409 yards, 61 touchdowns and 38 interceptions. His best season came in 2018, when he threw for 3,171 yards, 27 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in 13 games.

After playing in the SEC and Pac-12, Bentley will be facing less tough competition now that he’ll be playing in the Sun Belt. It’ll also be an opportunity for the 23-year-old to prove his doubters, such as Smith, wrong.