South Carolina star LaNorris Sellers returns to form against Kentucky

South Carolina’s 35-13 victory over Kentucky brought a much-needed win to the Gamecock locker room and fanbase. It was also a welcome return to dual-threat form for redshirt sophomore LaNorris Sellers.

In Saturday’s win, Sellers picked up an efficient 153 yards through the air, completing 80% of his passes, alongside another 81 yards on the ground. Sellers’ stats accounted for almost 70% of the Gamecocks’ total yardage on offense.

Become part of The Insiders Forum with GamecockCentral. Start for $1 your first week, and get a complimentary year of The Athletic included with your membership.

“He’s certainly a weapon. When your quarterback can run the ball like he can — and make up for a lot of mistakes, if you will — that’s a huge thing,” head coach Shane Beamer said. “We’ve got to continue to lean on that.”

Not much changed from week to week in terms of the game plan for Sellers. The quarterback said that him playing aggressively led to a better performance.

“When I’m running the ball, we can throw it as well,” Sellers said. “So it’s kind of like, if they were overplaying it, I’m pulling it.”

If Sellers recognizes they’re overplaying the pass and he’s making one guy miss, he’s good from there, he said. Beamer saw multiple times where a play was a designed RPO, and Sellers decided to pull it himself.

“I’m not even sure if we had just one called quarterback run,” Beamer said. “I mean, there were a couple quarterback draws that he ran in the first half where he had a couple options to throw it, and he ran it on the draw — which, he should have.”

There were flashes during Saturday’s win that felt like South Carolina’s regular-season-ending win over rival Clemson in 2024. In that November contest, Sellers rushed for 166 yards, including two touchdowns, and threw for 164 yards.

“I think it was just me playing football. It just happens,” Sellers said of his performance. “Pass protection breaks down sometimes, they blitz sometimes, you’ve got to get out of it and make a play.”

Sellers’ passing performance also saw a spread-out attack. Vandrevius Jacobs and Brian Rowe Jr. were the only two receivers on the team who were targeted more than once. Jacobs (5 receptions, 108 yards) was the only Gamecock with more than one reception.

Targeting everyone only once wasn’t a designed scheme for Sellers, it just happened to be the way the game played out.

” Nyck [Harbor] had one catch tonight. Obviously, we want him to get more than one catch,” Beamer said. “But we don’t tell LaNorris in the earpiece or in the helmet, ‘Hey, throw this ball to Nyck.’ We take what the defense gives you.”

Having so many options offensively alleviates pressure from the young quarterback as well. Through five games, Sellers has completed passes to 13 different players on offense, including six different wideouts.

“The defense can’t really key on one person. It’s three other guys, four other guys, that they’ve got to worry about, too,” Sellers said. “If they’re too aggressive on one, somebody else is open. If two guys are on one, somebody else is open.”

A performance like Saturday turns the corner for Sellers and Co., but they have a long way to go heading out of this coming bye week.

“Obviously, we can continue to get better,” Sellers said. “Some stuff we missed, a lot of stuff we miss still, but it’s a good start.”

Discuss South Carolina football on The Insiders Forum!