South Carolina is too small for a republic, and too large for an insane asylum.
– James L. Petigru, public figure
I feel like I’ve been hearing about South Carolina’s rising sophomore QB, LaNorris Sellers, for years now. Indeed, many of my colleagues over at Campus2Canton are undoubtedly very high on the upside of the Florence, South Carolina product. And now, it would appear that the long-awaited moment is here.
Of course, we all knew he’d be sitting behind Spencer Rattler last year. But now that the Rattler has moved on, it’s officially Sellers SZN. Here’s an excerpt from an article in mid-July referencing Beamer’s announcement from May and providing some background on Sellers:
USC coach Shane Beamer told the reporters in May that Sellers was the starting quarterback coming out of spring practice. Those at Sellers’ old high school believes the moment won’t be too big for him.
“I have no idea what to expect from the rest of South Carolina football, but you can expect LaNorris Sellers to lead that team well,” South Florence coach Drew Marlowe told The State on Friday at SC PrepRedZone media day. “He will be poised no matter what circumstance or what is going on around him. He is going to lead that team. He will make South Carolina the best team they could be.”
“When I see how special he was, I think about how he was as a sophomore and not as a senior and how he led our team and program through the tough year,” Marlowe said.
“I remember how talented he was and how awful we were around him. He never lost his cool and did not let anyone know how frustrated he was, even though he was averaging getting sacked more times than he was throwing completions probably. He just quietly and confidently led our team, and two years later we won the state championship.”
“He is ready,” Jayden Sellers, the No. 12 player in the state, said of his older brother. “He is more mature now, and he is ready. He is physical, hard to bring down and can read a defense better than anyone I know.”
Sellers isn’t like any of the QBs that USCe has had under Beamer. But I still think it’s relevant to look at the historical patterns under this staff, so let’s do that.
Coaching & System
QB1 PPG AVERAGE — HC: 18 — OC: 211 (four-point passing)
Despite Beamer’s infectious positive attitude, which I do appreciate, I would not put South Carolina’s staff in the ‘plus’ category when it comes to CFF value. Between Beamer and his OC, Dowell Loggains, the QB1 in this offense, has averaged around 20 PPG over the last three seasons. Two of those seasons were with Spencer Rattler at the helm, which were the better two seasons but still fairly disappointing.
One of Rattler’s problems related to CFF was that he wasn’t a high-upside runner, and the SC offence didn’t pass it enough to provide the requisite volume for CFF success at the quarterback position.
Sellers doesn’t appear to have that problem. In the four rushing attempts he completed in 2023, he accumulated 51 yards and a score. For some perspective, he only appeared in three games and completed all four of his passes for 100 yards and two scores. Not bad for efficiency, eh?
It’s unlikely that USCe will morph its offense into a high-volume attack, but if Sellers can be a strong runner, there is a path to high CFF upside.
On average, Beamer’s QB1s run it around seven times a game. With a player like Sellers, I’d image that average will be higher. So, in that sense, the numbers you see below in Table 2. probably aren’t very telling.
The Gamecocks return around 67% of the OL snaps from a year ago. Normally, I’d say this is a good thing—but as we all know—South Carolina’s offensive line was borderline anemic last year. More pig on the diet is necessary I think. That’s where Sellers’ skillset should help, but ultimately, the output of this offense will be heavily dictated by the offensive line’s improvement.
In terms of play-calling tendencies and pace, South Carolina averaged 24.7 seconds per play, which ranked 33rd in the FBS. Beamer’s about as balanced as it gets with a 51/49 run-pass split, while Loggains skews more towards the pass but is still fairly balanced at 47/53 in favor of the air.
LaNorris Sellers (6’3″, 240)
Sellers joined South Carolina in the class of 2023. He was a four-star on 247 Sports’ internal rankings but a three-star on the composite.
In the absence of a college production profile, we must look to his his school production. Here is a summary of his senior season’s accolades:
2022: Florence (S.C.) Morning News Player of the Year as a senior.
Completed 150 of 258 passes (58.1 percent) for 2,949 yards, 45 TDs, and only two INTs. Added 144-1,337-22 rushing (9.28 ypc).
Led South Florence to the South Carolina 4A state championship.
Sellers was amazing in his final season at South Florence, racking up almost 4,300 yards and accounting for 62 touchdowns. In the state title game, he threw for 260 yards, ran for 192, and had six touchdowns.
The most dedicated readers should know by now that I’m always partial to late-rising prospects. Sellers had quite a climb throughout his senior year, starting with a mid-0.8s rating on 247’s composite score and finishing with a rating above 0.9, which would have meant he climbed up several hundred spots on the player rating database. He originally committed to play in the ACC with Syracuse but flipped his commitment to South Carolina later in the cycle.
Closing
Similar to his rise in the recruiting rankings, Sellers is climbing up CFF boards this summer. His current ADP, according to Campus2Canton, is 240.7, but his June ADP was 175, which is around the middle of the 14th round in a standard 12-team draft.
His upside due to his dual-threat skill set is exciting, but I have questions about the infrastructure around him. This isn’t a staff with a history of strong QB production from a CFF standpoint and a program that was dead last in the SEC last year in terms of offensive line play. They also replace their two best receivers from a year ago, including a 1000-yard receiver. The good news is that it sounds like Sellers has some experience playing ‘hero-ball’ for his team from high school, so the feeling will at least be familiar.
I’d expect Sellers to have some enormous games, followed by some tremendous letdowns this season. For that reason, I view him more as a best-ball asset than a standard one. Tough games include Oklahoma, Alabama, Missouri, Ole Miss, and Clemson. But the Gamecocks also get Old Dominion, Akron, LSU, Vanderbilt, and Wofford, which—if their defenses from 2023 are any indication of what to expect in 2024—should be good opportunities for Sellers and the Gamecocks to keep their foot on the peddle for the full 60 minutes and score frequently.
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