Last year, the South Carolina Gamecocks were Spencer Rattler’s team. But the former five-star quarterback is gone, and now the Gamecocks’ fate rests on the shoulders of redshirt freshman LaNorris Sellers.
While Sellers wasn’t the most highly-rated recruit, expectations for the quarterback have been sky-high, with some inside the program believing he can be the best in school history.
Where did Sellers play in high school, and how did he become the starter at South Carolina?
From 2-Time ACC Commit To South Carolina
Sellers is a large man with a quiet personality. He prefers to let his play on the field do the talking, and his recruitment mirrors that personality.
The borderline four-star prospect finished the cycle rated as the 16th-best quarterback in his class, per the 247 Sports Composite rankings, but that was after he flew up boards at the last rankings update.
Sellers was a multi-sport athlete at South Florence High School in Florence, S.C., about 90 minutes east of Columbia. He played both soccer and football, but it was obvious football was in his future from a young age.
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He became the starter as a sophomore, dazzling with both his arm and legs. But right as his recruitment was beginning to take off, he suffered an injury as a junior, playing just one game in that critical season.
Despite being over 6’3″ and 235 pounds, Sellers didn’t really receive much attention. He earned a handful of offers, committing early to Virginia in 2021, but when Bronco Mendenhall stepped away from football, Sellers re-opened his commitment.
Partially due to the injury, Sellers’ offers dried up as schools moved on, but Syracuse remained, and Sellers quickly committed there in March 2022.
That’s when he got bigger, stronger, and more attractive to other schools, specifically the local one.
During his senior year, his first full, healthy year as a starter, Sellers thrived. He finished the season with 2,948 yards passing on just 258 attempts with an incredible 45-to-2 touchdown-to-interception ratio.
That wasn’t all, as the dual-threat QB also added 1,338 yards and 17 touchdowns on the ground as the Bruins steamrolled their competition on their way to an undefeated season. They scored over 40 points in 11 of 15 games, including the last nine on the schedule, with an average playoff margin over victory of nearly 35 points.
About halfway through his senior year, South Carolina offered and put a full-court press on Sellers, sending various coaches to game after game and checking in constantly. Sellers wanted to be at South Carolina but didn’t want to de-commit once again. He took it down to the wire, flipping to South Carolina just before the end of the Early Signing Period.
Sellers Becomes ‘Quarterback in Waiting’ at South Carolina
Immediately upon enrolling early, sources within the program noted that Sellers was going to be the quarterback of the future. Donning “Rec Specs,” Sellers waited patiently behind Rattler. He didn’t get much playing time, but when he did, he dazzled.
Sellers had just 17 snaps last season, scoring three touchdowns in that window, two through the air on 4-of-4 passing against Furman and one on the ground, a long touchdown with multiple broken tackles in the waning moments against Vanderbilt.
When the offseason came, there was little depth and even less starting experience on South Carolina’s quarterback depth chart. But while the Gamecocks went portal shopping for a QB, it wasn’t to start over Sellers.
Sources indicated the Gamecocks needed a competent replacement in case Sellers were to go down. When Auburn’s Robbie Ashford transferred, the competition may have been open, but it was clearly Sellers’ job to lose.
He was named the starter in advance of South Carolina’s opener against Old Dominion, but his starting debut was a mixed bag. Sellers protected the ball, but his accuracy was shaky, and he ended up with just 4.8 yards an attempt, a far cry from the 11.4 he averaged as a high school senior.
Still, the coaching staff doesn’t seem worried and is content to let Sellers go through his growing pains. If they have their way, Sellers will be in Garnet and Black for a few years and could leave as the best to do it in Columbia.
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