LaNorris Sellers (Fisher Brewer/South Carolina Athletics Photo)
South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers made his first start last week in a 23-19 comeback win over Old Dominion but will face a much better, more experienced defense this week against Kentucky.
“So, really, it’s not as easy as you might think it is. You just gotta prepare the right way. I need to get better,” Sellers said after his first start. “I’ll say just being more patient, just being myself, just being confident (is what he needs to do better).”
Sellers completed only 10 of 23 passes for 114 yards last Saturday against Old Dominion and had just two pass completions of 15 or more yards. Sellers did have 22 runs for 68 yards and a touchdown.
“He is a dual threat guy. He is big, he is strong, he can throw the heck out of the ball down the field,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said Monday. “You see the arm talent. I think (he is) a very good football player that is going to get better with every snap he takes. Every game, every rep, he’ll improve.
“A very good physical guy with a lot of attributes. He can run, he can throw, he seems like a very mature young man. So, obviously, I think everything you read and see about him, takes the game very seriously and works very hard at it.”
South Carolina coach Shane Beamer believes his team ran the ball better than the final statistics might indicate against Old Dominion and wants the running game to be a big part of South Carolina’s offense. Stoops said Sellers pulling the ball in passing plays and running creates problems.
“I’m sure they want to be balanced, but anytime you have a quarterback that’s dual threat, it could add a few more runs in there as well, and there’s reads on there – a lot of their run plays have screens and bubbles and RPOs and things of that nature that any quarterback, ours included, as you keep on playing, you feel more comfortable mixing it up and sprinkling in some of those throws,” Stoops said.
Beamer knows South Carolina fans were not overjoyed with the comeback win over Old Dominion. However, Beamer insisted Sunday he was happy with the win.
“We stayed together, we dealt with adversity, we kept our poise, we got it to the fourth quarter,” Beamer said. “We don’t want to get games to get games to the fourth quarter and win them versus Group-of-5 teams. I’m not saying that.
“But there’s a who’s who of college football that were in those kinds of games and they panicked and they didn’t come together and they lost. We aren’t one of them.”
3 Responses
If we play to win instead of playing not to lose, South Carolina should be a blowout win if Stoops will let the team run up the score.
I agree I’m saying 41-17 Kentucky but I really don’t want to give South Carolina that many points. It’s going to be hard for them to score. They played Old Dominion and you would think they were playing a power 5 team. South Carolina was struggling running the ball 3 yards a clip. And under 50% throwing the ball which looked even worse than the run. How are they going to deal with one of the best front 7s in football. There is no way south Carolina beats us but if they do the season goes down the drain because they are awful. Plus we’re at home. If we can’t beat them then we will lose to Auburn Tennessee Texas Georgia Ole Miss and probably Louisville. Because all these teams are better than South Carolina. I think Vanderbilt is better than South Carolina this year. Clark Lee has them playing good football.
I’m still in wait and see mode. A lot can happen from the first game to the second. Carolina can look like a completely different team by Saturday. I hope UK can fix their 3rd and long problems. If I was playing UK, I’d shoot for 1st downs or 3rd and long.