Take two: Bentley's move, Moses' favorites, Buckeyes fast start

Take Two is back this week tackling a handful of issues in the college football landscape.

Rivals.com National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney lays out the situation and then receives takes from Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell and a local expert from the Rivals.com network of team sites.

Storyline: Four-star quarterback Jake Bentley pulled a surprise move this week when he reclassified to the 2016 class and announced that he would enroll at South Carolina this summer.

The move effectively puts him smack-dab in the quarterback race for the Gamecocks, one that was a major issue last season. The four-star prospect will arrive this summer and be immediately available to win the starting job.

South Carolina’s quarterback situation last season was a mess and a big reason why the Gamecocks struggled so mightily. With Bentley’s father, Bobby, now on staff for first-year coach Will Muschamp, moving up the four-star quarterback’s timeline to get on campus made sense.

It also spoke to what appears to be continuing QB issues in Columbia.

First take: “With the quarterback spot up for grabs at South Carolina, Bentley, who was slated to graduate a semester early anyway, saw his opportunity and took it. Add in the fact that he only needs to take one extra class to make a year-early graduation happen, and the stars were perfectly aligned. Rightly or wrongly, Bentley thinks he has a real shot to win the job this fall. He was going to transfer to a high school closer to the South Carolina campus, where his dad coaches running backs, next season anyway, so his ability to forego his senior season altogether just erases an extra step.” – Rob Cassidy, Rivals.com Southeast Recruiting Analyst

Second take: He’s only been committed there for a few weeks, but his dad is on the staff so he has a better look truly at the needs and wants of South Carolina’s offense. This is a 3-9 football team with no established starting quarterback. If his dad weren’t on the staff, this wouldn’t be a situation. This is one of those things that has to show a lack of confidence at the quarterback position by South Carolina. Until we hear otherwise, this has to be what we’re looking at here because he’s going to be in the mix to start and he’s only been on the campus since June as essentially a high school senior.” - National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell

Storyline: Five-star Dylan Moses recently named Texas the frontrunner in his recruitment following a visit to Austin and it could certainly be huge for the Longhorns – if things go the right way.

Coach Charlie Strong enters his third year on the hot seat for sure and Texas’ success – or lack thereof – this season could be huge as Moses, a former LSU commit, considers all his options.

Alabama and LSU look like the most serious contenders to Texas for the Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy standout. This season and Strong’s future with the Longhorns could play major roles in Moses’ final decision.

Texas is on top now. Staying there is the next challenge.

First take: “Having Moses list Texas as his new leader on Saturday, following his UT unofficial visit, was obviously a huge development for the Longhorns. Coming into the weekend, most believed he was Alabama’s to lose, or possibly LSU’s. But Moses has always had a great relationship with the Texas coaches, including Charlie Strong, and those ties have moved Texas up his list after the most recent visit. The challenge for the Longhorns will be to stay on top, and it won’t be easy.

“The bottom line in this one is that if Texas has any chance to maintain its position on top of Moses’ list and eventually gain his commitment, the Longhorns will have to have a successful season on the field in 2016. Winning cures everything and if Texas can get things on track in the fall I expect UT’s recruiting momentum for a guy like Moses to continue. Wins would also go a long way toward eliminating any discussion of Charlie Strong being on the hot seat, a topic that would almost certainly derail UT’s chances with Moses if it’s being discussed toward the end of this year.” – Jason Suchomel, Orangebloods.com

Second take: “He put it out there but I don’t think they’re No. 1. He’s been committed to LSU and Alabama was his No. 1 after that visit a couple days before Texas and now Texas is No. 1. It’s typical of any high-level prospect who comes off a visit. You’re going to love what you see, love what you hear and you might be tempted to change it up. We have a whole football season left and I do know this – we could have a new coach at LSU, we could certainly have a new coach at Texas if things fall apart there and we will very likely not have a new coach at Alabama. If Texas is No. 1 it’s with the condition of how they do this season.” - Farrell

Storyline: There has been so much talk about how quickly coach Jim Harbaugh is returning Michigan to national prominence and – shocking! – Alabama won another national title but it’s Ohio State that sits atop the early 2017 team rankings.

Coach Urban Meyer is at it again.

The Buckeyes have already landed commitments from five-star OL Josh Myers and five-star DB Shaun Wade, the only team in the country to have two pledges of that caliber this early. Only Oklahoma has more four-star pledges.

Ohio State has pounded Florida, dipped into Texas, landed a top prospect from powerhouse Las Vegas Bishop Gorman, went to Michigan for a four-star linebacker and owned the in-state talent.

Meyer has done a phenomenal job reloading early and it should only continue. Once top recruits watch the NFL Draft and see name after name coming out of Ohio State, do you think they won’t be interested in playing there, too?

First take: “A big part of the success so far is still the National Championship bump from last year. When Ohio State was starting to build those relationships with the 2017 kids, they were going on that title run and for a lot of these guys that championship was won during the very beginning stages of their recruiting process. Meyer and his staff have done a good job of keeping that momentum going over the past 12 months and he has a lot of very aggressive recruiters on his staff that really enjoy doing it.

“The Ohio State flavor to this upcoming draft is something that several prospects have brought up to me during the course of interviews and when the expectations are validated with actual results during the draft, that should only help keep Ohio State fresh in the minds of some of the top national targets that they are recruiting. It's one thing to tell a kid that you can help develop him into an NFL player but being able to sit down with him and point out all of the guys that this staff developed into highly drafted players should give them an extra boost.” – Marc Givler, BuckeyeGrove.com

Second take: “Urban is still recruiting consistently at a different level than anyone else in the Big 10. Can anybody catch them? Alabama is the school that could jump up there but recruiting just seems to get better and better at Ohio State regardless of who’s in Ann Arbor, regardless of the noise surrounding Jim Harbaugh. Ohio State is losing so many kids to the draft, maybe that cuts the time down where Michigan catches up a little quicker but after the draft recruiting is going to go off the charts because you’re going to see all these first-rounders for Ohio State and that’s going to make more kids around the country want to commit. You could argue Urban has it rolling just as well as Nick Saban at Alabama.” - Farrell