LaNorris Sellers reveals South Carolina's internal expectations for 2025 season

South Carolina was the surprise team of the year in the SEC, as the Gamecocks were picked to finish 13th in the preseason media poll. Shane Beamer‘s team however shocked the college football world and compiled a 9-4 (5-3) record, good for T-4th in the SEC.

A major part of this success is chalked up to quarterback LaNorris Sellers, who emerged as one of the most exciting arms in the sport. In his redshirt freshman season, Sellers passed for 2,534 yards, 18 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He also rushed for 674 yards and seven more scores.

The Florence, SC native joined Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram and Rob Stone on “The Triple Option” podcast, where he discussed South Carolina’s expectations for the upcoming season.

“Just to keep winning,” Sellers responded when asked about expectations. “No matter who we play, we know it’s not going to be easy. This year we’ve got to keep it up and don’t underestimate [teams] just because we beat them last year.”

The Gamecocks thrived as underdogs last season. Carolina throttled Kentucky (31-6) as a nine-point underdog, rolled Oklahoma (35-9) as a 3.5 point underdog, upset No. 10 Texas A&M (44-20) at home as a three-point dog and downed rival No. 12 Clemson on the road (17-14) as a three-point dog.

Carolina was a few plays away from 2024 Playoff berth

These massive wins put the Gamecocks in College Football Playoff conversations, but three losses (all to ranked teams) just kept them out of the field of 12. They were matched up against Illinois in the Citrus Bowl, where they fell to Bret Bielema‘s team 21-17.

“Definitely,” Sellers said about the College Football Playoff being on South Carolina‘s mind this season. “You saw what we could do last year and we were 4-5 plays and a couple mistakes away. We understand that there is a small margin for error. So, we just learned from that last year.”

Two of Carolina’s three regular season losses last season came by three or less points. It lost at home to LSU 36-33 after a missed 49-yard field goal to attempt to tie the game with no time remaining, and lost at Alabama 27-25 after recovering an onside kick but failing to get into field goal position. If it had just two or three go its way, like Sellers stated, the Gamecocks certainly would have been included in the Playoff.

Expectations are much higher for South Carolina this season, as it was projected to finish fifth in the SEC and Sellers was named Preseason First Team All-SEC. The ‘Cocks open their 2025 season in the Aflac Kickoff Game against Virginia Tech on August 31.