Greg McElroy defends where he ranked LaNorris Sellers on Top 10 college football quarterback list

Last month, former Alabama quarterback and current ESPN analyst Greg McElroy broke down his Top 10 college quarterbacks entering the 2025 season. And much to the chagrin of South Carolina fans, McElroy slotted rising redshirt sophomore QB LaNorris Sellers in the back half of his ranking at No. 7.

Fresh off winning SEC Freshman of the Year by league coaches after combining on more than 3,200 total yards and 25 touchdowns in 2024, the 6-foot-3, 240-pound Sellers is already drawing some early offseason Heisman Trophy hype entering his second season as the Gamecocks starter. And despite placing Sellers at No. 7, McElroy made it clear he expects South Carolina’s dual-threat phenom to continue to climb his personal rankings with an even better showing in 2025.

“I think LaNorris Sellers is in a really good position because there’s no way – and maybe I’m being naïve here – but there’s no way his receiving corps is as big of a question mark this year,” McElroy said on a recent episode of his Always College Football podcast. “Last year their best wide receiver was a tight end in Josh Simon, who was excellent, a great player. But they had a lot of question marks at wide receiver. At one point, their best receiver was the slot receiver, a true freshman as well, and he was banged up a little bit as the season went along.”

To McElroy’s point, senior tight end Joshua Simon led all Gamecocks players with 40 receptions for 519 yards and seven touchdowns in 2024, well ahead of rising junior receiver Nyck Harbor, who ranked second on the team with 376 receiving yards and three touchowns on 26 receptions. True freshman Mazeo Bennett Jr. hauled in 30 catches for 337 yards and three scores through the air as well.

“If they can just figure out the pieces around LaNorris Sellers, he’s poised for a great 2025 season. He already won SEC Freshman of the Year last year, he was all-conference, which is pretty amazing, and by the way he was banged up some of the year with an ankle injury,” McElroy concluded. “If you can just marry up his skill set with what he can do on the ground and improvising and how he had to take the game over against Clemson, … I think this is a young man who the sky is the limit for what he could be. I think LaNorris Sellers at 7 is a great spot for now, but don’t be surprised if when we revisit this at season’s end, he’s up a little bit higher, assuming his supporting cast becomes a little more reliable.”

Shane Beamer describes what makes LaNorris Sellers different: ‘Nothing bothers him’

LaNorris Sellers has found himself slotted near the top of multiple 2026 NFL mock drafts heading into the 2025 college football season. He’s expected to play to those expectations, though redshirt sophomore is not feeling the pressure according to his head coach, Shane Beamer.

The South Carolina headman was able to rattle off a long list of the qualities that make the Gamecocks quarterback unique. More than anything, he never lets the outside noise affect him on, or off the field.

“I think, just the way he was raised and the kind of the kind of person he is, nothing bothers him,” Beamer told the media during the Welcome Home Tour stop in Greenville. “And he’s the same all the time, whether it be after we win a huge game or have a tough loss. Practice or pre game, post game, whatever it is, he’s the same person. He’s steady, and he’s got a great family around him. His character and his humility, that he is always striving to be better and doesn’t let a lot of outside noise or external influences bother him. He is who he is and doesn’t let anything get to him.”

During spring training, Beamer alluded to Sellers’ stoic nature. He identified his QB1 as the quiet leader of the team. When he does speak, his peers listen. Now a second-year starting quarterback, Sellers is going to be put under a microscope as one of the projected top draft prospects in next year’s cycle.

— On3’s Barkley Truax contributed to this report.