Brian Kelly shares his initial impressions of South Carolina

On Saturday, LSU will invade Columbia, South Carolina, to square off against the Gamecocks. On Tuesday, Tigers head coach Brian Kelly revealed his initial impressions of South Carolina.

“You look at what Shane [Beamer]‘s done — he really gets his team to play well and particularly at home,” Kelly said. “They come off a really great road win against Kentucky 31-6. A lot of it is the type of offense they’re running now with [LaNorris] Sellers at quarterback; [Raheim] Sanders, the transfer from Arkansas; Joshua Simon at tight end.”

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After a lackluster 23-19 win over Old Dominion in Week 1, South Carolina looked excellent in its 31-6 blowout win over Kentucky. The Gamecocks’ defense was particularly spectacular, holding the Wildcats’ offense to 183 total yards.

Kentucky only converted 3-of-its-14 third down attempts in the loss and committed two turnovers, one of which was a pick-six. On offense, South Carolina QB LaNorris Sellers was stellar, completing 10-of-14 passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns.

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Kelly believes Sellers will provide a difficult test for his defense.

“This is a big, physical quarterback,” Kelly said. “Reminds me of the kid at Florida, [Anthony] Richardson; the quarterback at Arkansas, [Taylen Green] — big, physical, 6’3, 242 — we’re going to have to be prepared for a similar offense, in a sense.

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“Defensively, they lead the SEC in sacks. This is a defense with an outstanding front. Freshman EDGE player [Dylan] Stewart and [Kyle] Kennard‘s an outstanding player. Really love [Nick] Emmanwori, the defensive back, No. 7 — very active. He was a freshman All-American in 2022. Just a really good defense, and they run both three-down and four-down and made it really difficult for Kentucky last week.”

Of course, LSU’s offense won’t be so easy to stop. The Tigers average 399.5 yards of offense per game. For reference, Kentucky’s offense only averages 250 yards per game. Brian Kelly is excited to see how his team responds to its first SEC foe of the season.

“On the road in the SEC, we know the challenges, especially with the noon start,” Kelly said. “We look to improve on all facets of our game as we go on the road against the Gamecocks.”

On Saturday, LSU and South Carolina will square off at noon ET. The game will air live on ABC.