Shane Beamer reacts to schools trying to lure LaNorris Sellers away: 'Why the hell would you leave?'

Tampering is an unfortunate reality in college sports. This is never more relevant than in the world of SEC quarterbacks. At the 2025 SEC Kickoff on Monday, South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer revealed how he dealt with concerns of other teams tampering with Gamecocks quarterback LaNorris Sellers.

“I think he knows — one — this is home and he has everything that he needs here to be successful,” Beamer said. “We didn’t have a lot of in-depth conversations in regards to, ‘Hey, man, I really want you to stay and are you leaving?’ I don’t know if we had that conversation because maybe I was naive, but I knew he loved it here.

“He’s coming off a season as a starting quarterback, where he wins nine games. He’s playing as well as any quarterback in the country in the last season, he’s coming back on a really good team and he loves being here. Like, why the hell would you leave? And excuse my language, but I mean, I know money is an aspect of it, but it was also, don’t mess with happiness either. He’s got a great situation here.”

In June, The Athletic‘s Bruce Feldman reported that Sellers’ father told him his son received offers worth up to $8 million to transfer out of South Carolina. However, Sellers’ father reportedly echoed Beamer’s sentiment above: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

It’s no surprise that teams were throwing money at Sellers this offseason. In his first season as the Gamecocks’ full-time starter last year, Sellers erupted for 2,534 passing yards and 18 touchdowns, compared to seven interceptions.

Sellers was equally dangerous with his legs, amassing 674 yards and seven TDs in the ground game. For his efforts, Sellers was named an All-SEC Third-Team selection.

Sellers’ individual success translated into the win column. The Gamecocks finished the regular season on a six-game win streak and narrowly missed out on the College Football Playoff. Shane Beamer believes there’s no better place for Sellers than South Carolina.

“He knows that everything he wants to accomplish, he can here at South Carolina, on and off the field,” Beamer said. “He’s doing great academically. He’s doing an internship this summer with a construction company for his major and and he’s taking the next step football wise. So, maybe I just had my head in the sand and wasn’t very aware of what was really happening.

“Don’t get me wrong, we had conversations. I talked to he and the family when we had an offensive coordinator opening, and wanted to kind of see where he [was ]on that. So, we’re always communicating. I also know that we got a really good thing going for South Carolina, not just for him, but for our entire team. And guy’s enjoy being part of this program, and they know that they can reach all their goals and accomplish their dreams here.”