Best QB heading into season? One analyst says LaNorris Sellers

In a college football superlatives segment on ESPN’s Get Up on Thursday, host Mike Greenberg started the conversation by asking, “Who is the best quarterback in the country heading into the season?”

Josh Pate, ESPN’s newest college football contributor, was straight to the point with his answer: South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers.

“I think America has seen bits and pieces of him,” Pate said. “South Carolina fans are drunk on him as they should be.”

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Further into his explanation, Pate went as far as saying Sellers will “be a breakout star this year.”

“There were times where he showed sort of game takeover potential last year,” Pate said. “His OC is Mike Shula. They’ve really focused on pocket awareness, passing the ball better. Downstream of Nyck Harbor, their wide receiver one, the word out of camp is that their wide receiver room looks underrated.”

Pate has openly been high on Sellers for a while now, as have many college football analysts. He’s been talked about plenty as a player in the Heisman Trophy conversation. Coming into the season, he’s listed with the fifth-best odds at 16-1, only behind Texas’ Arch Manning, Clemson’s Cade Klubnik, LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier and Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith.

READ HERE: Everything LaNorris Sellers said meeting with the media on Tuesday

Sellers had a strong first season as the starter in 2024, earning Freshman All-American and SEC All-Freshman honors. He threw for 2,534 yards and 18 touchdowns with seven interceptions and added 674 rushing yards and seven touchdowns. 

Pate has admitted before that he’s not super into drawing player comparisons. But even for him, it’s hard not to look at Sellers and see some Cam Newton, who led Auburn to a national title in 2010, in him. That’s how good Pate believes Sellers could be in his second season under center with the Gamecocks.

“I’m saying if there’s a guy out there who’s capable of collectively raising the level of play around him up just by his presence, ala Cam Newton on Auburn 2010, it’s LaNorris Sellers at South Carolina this year,” Pate said on his Aug. 10 episode of Josh Pate’s College Football Show.

“You don’t know the names of his wide receivers; he can make you know the names of his wide receivers. He’s built like a linebacker. He’s incredibly astute.”

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