With South Carolina's 2016 baseball season over, Gamecock fans won't see their teams take action in one of the three major sports until September, when the football team will take on the Vanderbilt Commodores. Join me as I break down the potential starting quarterbacks on a six-week series that will preview the key players on Will Muschamp's squad for the upcoming season.
Perry Orth: Orth is likely the most known commodity of the five quarterbacks vying for the job, as the former walk-on entered the program in 2013 and started eight games last season. However, there wouldn't be much of a quarterback controversy if Orth had won more than one of those starts. While the seven losses on his record are not completely on his shoulders, Orth completed just 54.8 percent of his passes while struggling to lead an offense that featured two pass-catchers selected in the 2015 NFL Draft.
Orth missed part of the spring with a collarbone injury, but he is expected to be 100 percent for practice over the summer. Along with Brandon McIlwain, the redshirt senior is listed as the first-teamer on the post-spring depth chart. Orth brings the most experience to the table, but with a new offensive system, he doesn't have a leg up on the young guys in terms of playbook knowledge. Muschamp and Co. know what they're getting with Orth, which means if they don't believe they can get better out of someone else, the consistently average quarterback could spend considerable time under center.
Brandon McIlwain: Here's the guy that has Gamecock fans excited. McIlwain was an Elite 11 quarterback in high school and was rated four stars across the board. A dual-threat quarterback, the Pennsylvania native has a big arm and brings incredible speed to the quarterback position. With Orth and Lorenzo Nunez out during the spring game, the early enrollee stole the show by outplaying Connor Mitch and Michael Scarnecchia while throwing two touchdowns to Bryan Edwards.
McIlwain may have the most raw talent out of the group, but it remains to be seen if he will be able to handle the pressure of being a starting quarterback in the SEC as a freshman. It's hard to imagine Muschamp putting a freshman under center to open against a conference opponent on the road, but McIlwain has the tools to be a special player, so it is certainly within the realm of possibility.
Lorenzo Nunez: Nunez was expected to make a bigger impact in the 2015 season, but it just never seemed to come together for him. The dual-threat signal caller is South Carolina's leading returning rusher, having amassed 376 yards on the ground last fall. Nunez put together some good moments in the garnet and black last year, but he didn't show the consistency needed to overtake Orth.
If McIlwain emerges as the starter, Nunez could become the odd man out, as the two have similar skillsets. However, if Orth receives the majority of the snaps, the rising sophomore could see a similar role as he had last season: Coming in to run the wildcat for a series or two each game. Nunez has the talent to be the starter, but his contribution will likely come in a much lesser role, and maybe from another position, on the offense.
Jake Bentley: Bentley was supposed to be the quarterback of the future in Columbia, but he reclassified himself, graduating high school and enrolling at Carolina a year early. Son of running backs coach Bobby Bentley, Jake is a four-star recruit himself, and he likely isn't planning to concede to Orth and McIlwain without giving them a run for the job.
It's hard to start a freshman at quarterback, and it would be even more difficult for Muschamp to pass over his veterans and his four-star early enrollee to give Bentley the keys to the offense. However, there's simply no question that Bentley has incredible talent. Redshirting may be the best move for the 18-year-old, but if he lives up to the hype, he can't be ruled out of the competition.
Michael Scarnecchia: Scarnecchia has played in just one game in his two years in Columbia, throwing a pass in mop-up duty against LSU last October. He was rated as a three-star quarterback out of high school but hasn't been taken particularly seriously in quarterback competitions over the last two seasons. He was passed over for the likes of Orth, Nunez and Mitch last season before becoming somewhat of an afterthought in 2016.
It's hard to imagine Scarnecchia putting together a serious run at the starting job this fall as two guys he couldn't beat out last year's return and are joined by a pair of incredibly talented freshmen.