Earlier this month, Opelika High School lost to Ramsay, 21-16, in the Alabama Class 6A state championship game. Jake Bentley was supposed to be there, playing for Opelika. It would have been his last high school game before college.
Instead, Bentley was coming off a loss to No. 2 Clemson the weekend before and waiting to see what bowl game his South Carolina team would play in.
Ironically, the Gamecocks were selected to play in the Birmingham Bowl, which is just two hours up the road from Bentley’s old high school. And on Thursday, the former ESPN 300 quarterback who skipped his final year of high school to enroll early at South Carolina will lead his team out against South Florida in hopes of finishing the season with more wins than losses.