How LaNorris Sellers, a QB no one knew a year ago, became projected top-5 NFL Draft pick
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6425716/2025/06/16/lanorris-sellers-south-carolina-nfl-draft-2026/Bruce Feldman
June 16, 2025Updated 11:03 am EDT
LaNorris Sellers’ first college start left South Carolina fans wondering if the former unheralded quarterback recruit could handle life in the SEC. The opponent was Old Dominion. Trailing 19-16 in the fourth quarter, LaNorris misfired while throwing downfield on a third-and-3, passing up a 5-yard out route near midfield, drawing some groans. The Gamecocks lined up to go for it, but a false start by a freshman left tackle snuffed out that idea, which garnered loud boos. South Carolina’s defense responded, forcing a fumble inside Old Dominion’s 10 before LaNorris barrelled in on a three-yard touchdown run that secured a 23-19 win.
His passing numbers: 10 of 23 for 114 yards.
LaNorris’ father, Norris, said his biggest fear was that “the blogs would crush him” if and when his son struggled. And sure enough, LaNorris saw the criticism.
“(LaNorris) called me and said, ‘Yo, people are killing me on Twitter,’” said then-South Carolina offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains, now the head coach at Appalachian State. “I said, ‘I’ve been an offensive coordinator for nine years. They’re gonna kill you and me every week, but don’t worry about it.’
“He said, ‘Hey, I was nervous.’ And I said it’s OK to be nervous. You played in front of 80,000 people in a program that you grew up watching. He grew up real fast.”
The ups and downs of LaNorris’ early starts mimic how he arrived in Columbia, S.C. Head coach Shane Beamer can vividly recall a summer day in 2022 during his program’s high school 7-on-7 camp. The biggest name there was one-time 2024 No. 1 prospect Jadyn Davis, a senior quarterback who, as a 13-year-old, had been offered scholarships by Alabama and Georgia.
Beamer liked him a lot, he said, but as he watched Davis and another quarterback, he said there was “zero doubt in my mind, the best quarterback in the camp was LaNorris Sellers,” a three-star recruit from Florence, S.C., that the Gamecocks had not offered.
It baffled LaNorris’ high school coach, Drew Marlowe, whose faith in LaNorris kept him motivated after his 2-6 coaching debut at South Florence High in 2020. LaNorris had ideal size and athleticism and was also a terrific student, but Beamer said that South Carolina still wanted to see a little bit of his senior film: “7-on-7 evaluations are important, but it’s still not the same as a real game,” Beamer said.
So, true to his word, Beamer watched — or more like marveled at — LaNorris’ film every Friday.
“My gosh, how many times can a guy throw ‘4 Verticals’ for a touchdown because he did it like five times a game?” Beamer remembered. Still, he said, it was midway through LaNorris’ senior season in 2022 before the program finally offered him a scholarship. “I’d love to sit here and tell you, yeah, we knew it all along. But we didn’t offer him until October of his senior year. And even then, it wasn’t a slam dunk.”
The 6-foot-3, 240-pound quarterback, just 19 years old, who almost no one had heard of a year ago and who didn’t get an offer from the Gamecocks until late in his senior year, is now projected to be a top-5 pick in next year’s NFL Draft.
LaNorris Sellers, still just 19, has gone from unheralded three-star to potential first-rounder. (Michael Hickey / Getty Images)
Loggains, a former NFL offensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans, New York Jets, Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins, arrived at South Carolina from Arkansas in December, about six weeks after the Gamecocks had offered LaNorris, who was committed to Syracuse at the time. Loggains watched LaNorris’ tape and asked about him.
“They asked, ‘Do you like him?’ I was like, ‘I love him,” Loggains said. He loved that LaNorris — a big goal scorer as a high school soccer star — had great feet and that he’d overcome setbacks, having bounced back from a season-ending chest injury the previous season.
Loggains was even more impressed once he started hearing the questions the 17-year-old was asking: What Loggains believed in, scheme-wise; about other quarterbacks he’d coached who were similarly-styled; about when and why you change protections; about footwork in the shotgun. Loggains also liked that, unlike almost every other recruit he’d been talking to, LaNorris never asked about name, image and likeness.
“His questions were very mature,” Loggains said. “I thought there was something special about his makeup. Seeing the talent was easy. I was wondering why we weren’t recruiting him at Arkansas.”
The Gamecocks had a week until LaNorris planned to sign with Syracuse in 2022’s early signing period in late December. LaNorris had flipped from Virginia to Syracuse when UVA quarterback coach Jason Beck and OC Robert Anae moved to Syracuse.
“He had built relationships with them,” said Loggains. “He is very much about trust. He’s not a young kid. He’s watching. He’s listening. He’s very perceptive. He judges everything. What a blessing to be there at that time, having a superstar right underneath your nose.”
LaNorris’ mother, Cheryl, implored her son to think carefully about his decision.
“My mom said, ‘What happens if you go up there and that same coaching staff isn’t there when you’re there? I don’t want you to go up there and get stuck so far away when you can stay home and play in the best conference,’” LaNorris recalled. “And, they (Beck and Anae) were there for (only) six months after.”
But for someone so much about trust and relationships, telling Beck and Anae that he wasn’t coming to Syracuse was one of the hardest things he’s ever done. “I was supposed to sign that Wednesday, but I felt so bad that I ended up pushing my signing back until late Friday,” said LaNorris. “I second-guessed myself a bunch in those three days.”
At South Carolina, LaNorris redshirted in 2023, sitting behind Spencer Rattler, who became like a big brother to him. Loggains prepped LaNorris as best he could for 2024.
“I threw Sellers out of practice like once a week,” he said. In late September, after Rattler had gone 18 of 20 against Mississippi State, LaNorris was put in for the two-minute drill and threw a pick on the first play. He ended up getting the boot.
LaNorris was determined to bounce back. Every morning, he came into the office at 6:15 with his notebook and his breakfast and would watch tape with Loggains.
“I knew Sellers would be the quarterback in ’24,” Loggains said. “I wanted to callus him, be really hard on him, and see if he could take it. If he was immature, pouting, throwing his helmet, then you find a transfer portal kid. There were transfer kids available, who were good kids who wanted to come after Spencer left. But Sellers didn’t flinch. I knew he was gonna be able to play.”
LaNorris, who from an early age aspired to be an architect, also aspired to be like his regional NFL team’s former starting quarterback: Cam Newton.
LaNorris’ dad, Norris, a truck driver, is a big Carolina Panthers fan. “I would tell him he plays just like Cam and he kind of looked like him,” said Norris. “I think that gave him the mindset: If (Cam) can do it, I can do it.”
LaNorris became such a fan that as soon as he learned to write in cursive, he wrote Newton a letter. He was 11.
“I don’t remember what I wrote,” LaNorris said, “but I imagine it was something cringey.”
“He brings me this letter when I’m in the kitchen,” Cheryl recalled. “It was the typical kid stuff: ‘I’m your biggest fan. I want to be like you when I grow up.’” She chuckled. “I didn’t send it to him. I kept it.”
(“She never mailed it out?” LaNorris said. “She told me she’d mailed it out!”)
At 11, LaNorris Sellers penned a fan letter to then-Panthers QB Cam Newton. (Courtesy of the Sellers family)
LaNorris practiced hard from a young age. When he entered sixth grade, he began working with a private quarterback coach, Ramon Robinson, whom LaNorris said has been “super important” in his development. His parents drove him all over to sync up with Robinson for training on weekends in the offseason: to South Florence, Myrtle Beach, Columbia, Greenville, Atlanta.
The hard work was paying off. When Marlowe had thoughts of resigning at South Florence, he realized he had a special player in LaNorris — even if almost no college coaches realized it.
Marlowe believed LaNorris struggled with confidence in high school — perhaps some of it stemming from his ranking as a three-star, or the lack of college buy-in. LaNorris’ dream school was North Carolina. Marlowe reached out to them several times, he said, but the Tar Heels weren’t interested.
So before every game in LaNorris’ senior season, Marlowe would grab him by his facemask and tell him, “You’re the best player on this field. Believe it, and play like it!”
LaNorris can still hear those words: It’s your team! Nobody else can stop you! “He did that all the time,” LaNorris said. “He did it every game, and after a while, you start to believe it.”
Developing that mindset changed how LaNorris played.
“If you fully believe you’re the best, you’ll play like it,” he said. “If you second-guess yourself and you’re not confident in yourself, you won’t play to your full potential.”
His senior year, he led the Bruins to the 4A state title, throwing 45 touchdowns and just two interceptions while running for more than 1,300 yards and 17 touchdowns.
