LaNorris Sellers' pocket presence steadily improving for South Carolina offense

Early in the game, with the crowd as loud as can be, all LaNorris Sellers needed was one throw.

Backed up on 3rd and 18 only mere minutes into Saturday’s game versus Kentucky, Sellers dropped back and fired to Jared Brown on a crossing route for a 10-yard gain. It was well short of the first down, but it was what the redshirt freshman quarterback needed to see from himself.

“I was like, ‘All right, let me get rolling,'” Sellers said.

Backtracking to the week prior, Sellers didn’t look comfortable. In what his first career start on Aug. 31, he mostly took off and ran whenever he faced pressure.

[BIG-GAME SPECIAL: 50% OFF! Unlock with promo code SpursUp]

This time around, he stayed back and let the play develop. If the pocket collapsed, his first instinct wasn’t to run for dear life. Rather, he made a move and found more room to throw.

Sellers went 11-for-15 passing for 159 yards and two touchdowns in the 31-6 win over the Wildcats. By no means did he put up any insane numbers, but he felt he handled this outing with more poise.

“When the colors are flashing, I can’t really let it affect me like I did in the first week,” Sellers explaining what differences he noticed in his play. “It was just like the jitters. It was like, ‘All right, I see colors flashing. Let’s get out.’ But I mean, it was just colors flashing and just tell people to protect me.”

While he was more efficient as a passer, Sellers still had his share of struggles. He threw an interception right over the outstretched hands of a receiver minutes before halftime. And he fumbled twice on two of the three sacks he took.

However, head coach Shane Beamer didn’t blame his quarterback for those forced fumbles, which were recovered by South Carolina. He simply chalked it up to needing better protection around Sellers.

“On a couple of those, we should’ve been protected, and he didn’t expect to get hit because we should have been protected,” Beamer said. “So we’ve got to protect him better.”

[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-LSU football game]

There were moments, though, where Sellers looked like a completely different player than the one he was against Old Dominion. Even with pressure in his face, he was able to avoid it and make some nice plays.

Specifically, on another third and long play in the second half, the pocket quickly collapsed on Sellers. With two defenders coming after him, he took a few steps to his left and threw to a wide-open Mazeo Bennett Jr. for a 32-yard gain. On the ensuing play, he fired a 16-yard touchdown to Josh Simon to cap off a seven-play, 58-yard drive.

“We should’ve been protected, but we got beat and then there’s a guy that he’s not expecting to be there is in his vision and he has the athleticism to evade that guy,” Beamer said. “I love Spencer (Rattler), I would tell Spencer this: last year, that’s probably a sack with Spencer. But LaNorris is able to make that guy miss, evade the rush, keep his eyes downfield and then find Mazeo for a big play.”

[On3 App: Get South Carolina push notifications from GamecockCentral]

Because of plays like this, South Carolina didn’t have to rely solely on the run game to win on Saturday. With Sellers being able to make some tougher throws, it allowed the playbook to better open up.

“If they feel like you can throw back and pass, they won’t load the box and make us throw it,” he said. “So if you can complete some passes, get some runs in, you just open up the playbook more.”

Now going into Saturday’s matchup against LSU, Sellers knows he’ll have to do more of what he did before. Beamer believes he’ll be able to do so and continue his better play.

“He showed you what we can do and it goes back to being comfortable, being confident in what we’re doing where he knows where his answers are, he knows where to go with the ball,” Beamer said. “I thought he did a much better job Saturday of just kind of relaxing and just going and making plays — just go play ball.”

Discuss South Carolina football on The Insiders Forum!