LaNorris Sellers' grandmother to Dowell Loggains: 'Does he still suck'
It seems just about everyone around Columbia these days is praising freshman quarterback LaNorris Sellers. Everyone expect for his positional coach and offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains.
“I have to tell him every other day that he sucks because the whole world is telling him how great he is,” Loggains said with a smile back in July.
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Four months later, and Loggains has continued to challenge Sellers to ignore the outside noise. So much so that even after scoring on a 36-yard run against Vanderbilt, Loggains stuck to his script when confronted by a relative of Sellers.
“I saw (Sellers) grandma after the game as I was walking out,” said Loggains. “She goes, ‘Coach, do you still think he sucks?’ I said, ‘Yes, ma’am.’ She said, ‘Good. Keep telling him that.'”
Sellers has only appeared in two games. But in those two games, he’s left South Carolina fans wanting to see more. In addition to his long touchdown run last week, he’s also a perfect 4/4 through the air throwing for 86 and two touchdowns. That means on plays where Sellers has either rushed it himself or has thrown the football, the Gamecocks have scored on three of those seven plays.
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“When he gets out there good things happen. Good things happen to him because he’s a good player and he works really hard. He’s about the right stuff and he does things the right way. He prepares the right way… To go out there (against Vanderbilt) and you’re just trying to run the clock out. They man’d us up and we had a zone-read call with an RPO (run, pass, option) tagged, just because we wanted to get the first down and run the clock out. It’s a little different when Spencer (Rattler) is doing it versus (Sellers)… He reads the backside defensive end, runs through two people, and out runs everyone else.”
With two regular season games remaining, Sellers would be able to play against Kentucky and Clemson without burning a year of eligibility. While his play has been impressive, Loggains said Sellers has been improving in other areas as well.
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“I’m pleased with not only what he’s done in the classroom, on the football field, in the weight room — this is a kid that’s gained 17-18 pounds of muscle. I think when you see him and you look at his lower body he looks different from when he first got here. I think he’s faster than when he first got here so I’m gonna give coach (Luke) Day and that group a lot of credit for that. But I’m also gonna give (Sellers) the credit for putting in the work. He’s (the same) every day. We joke with him, because of how calm and every day is just like, do you like this play? ‘It’s okay.’ Hey, are you comfortable with this? ‘It’s fine.’ That’s who he is every day. I’m very fortunate to coach him.”
