Stepping up

OPELIKA, Ala. | Jake BentleyClick [rl]Here to view this Link. stepped up to the challenge in a big way Friday night. He'll face another one in a couple of weeks.

Bentley, a standout 2017 quarterback from Opelika (Ala.) High, led the Bulldogs to a 35-7 win over Park Crossing in their spring game completing 20-of-33 passes for 276 yards and four touchdowns in just three quarters of action.

"He had a great spring game and Jake's had a really good spring," Opelika coach Brian Blackmon said. "I thought his leadership was really, really good. The talent has always been there but just watching the grow-up process of him becoming the complete quarterback, we really saw a lot of that. He just needed the experience and to go out there and for it to be his game."

Bentley's next test will come in Baltimore June 5-7 at the Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge, which pits the nation's top high school prospects against each other in position drills and 7-on-7's. An invitation to the event is quite an accomplishment, even more so for a rising junior.

"It's a great honor," Bentley said. "Getting to go up there and see how I rank up against everybody else is great, just that competition. You know those are the guys your going to playing either with in college or against."

Bentley, 6-foot-3 and 212 pounds, is the son of Auburn offensive analyst Bobby Bentley. After serving as a backup to his brother at Byrnes High School in Duncan, S.C. as a freshman, Bentley backed up Opelika senior Matthew Christian, a Murray State signee, last season.

"It was a new experience for me being the starter and it was great for me to go out there with the guys and get better as a team," Bentley said. "I'm striving every day to get better. The more experience I get the better I'll be as a player. I think the spring game helped and this season will be even better."

Bentley has offers from Auburn, Miami, Cincinnati, Southern Miss, Wake Forest, Temple, Western Michigan and Appalachian State. He doesn't claim any early favorites and plans to take his time with the recruiting process.

"Right now, I'm just focused on this season and getting better," he said. "I'll continue to worry about recruiting this summer when I go to camps and get a better feel for teams.

"A goal for me, it's kind of what my dad likes us to do, like my two brothers, is to make a decision before our senior year so we don't have to worry about doing that while we're playing our senior year. That's the target but if it's after that it will be after that."

Auburn offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee watched Bentley practice this spring and he met with Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn after one of the Tigers' practices.

"Auburn is great," Bentley said. "When I went over there and watched them practice I sat down with Coach Malzahn and he told me that he was going to recruit me for me and not because my dad was there. That was reassuring to hear him say that."