'Played his butt off': Beamer, Sellers evaluate quarterback play in Week 6 loss
After not playing since Week 3, South Carolina got its starting quarterback LaNorris Sellers back for Saturday’s game vs. Ole Miss. But even his return to action couldn’t save the day.
Sellers finished 20-of-32 passing for 162 yards and an interception in the Gamecocks’ 27-3 loss to the Rebels. Despite the offense only stringing together three points, head coach Shane Beamer was pleased with how his quarterback played.
“I thought he played his butt off,” Beamer said. “Battled, took some hits. … I thought he did a good job. He is tough. He is competitive. He continues to get better and had some nice runs for us, for sure. Made some good throws.”
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Sellers hadn’t played since the second half of the LSU game after suffering an ankle sprain injury. The redshirt freshman didn’t suit up for the Akron game a week later and then had the next two weeks to get ready to make his return ahead of Ole Miss since the Gamecocks were on a bye week in between.
“I think I played pretty good other than, we had a turnover, and we didn’t win. We feel bad about it,” Sellers said. “My health is fine. I’m good. My ankle’s good.”
But while Beamer and Sellers both were happy with how things went, it wasn’t all they cracked it up to be. The offense finished with their lowest scoring output of the season after averaging 34.3 points per game.
Sellers completed a season-high 20 passes, but his longest throw of the day was a pair of 17-yard completions to Josh Simon and Vandrevius Jacobs. South Carolina only averaged 8.1 yards per catch and weren’t able to consistently create separation, which was part of the issue with the offensive struggles.
“I don’t know about where LaNorris’ eyes were on certain things. But certainly there’s some detail things that we have to clean up from a route running standpoint throughout the offense as well,” Beamer said. “And we’ve got to be able to continue to get open and make those competitive plays, too, when LaNorris gives us an opportunity.”
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[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-Texas A&M football game]
Because his receivers weren’t getting open, Sellers had to improvise at times. He made some plays happen on his own by taking off and running. He finished with 55 yards on the ground on 15 carries. However, he also took some hits and was sacked a season-high six times.
“I thought our offensive line did a pretty good job for the most part throughout the night. I know they got us at the end. Protection wise, he had time,” Beamer said.
So when it comes to the offense’s issues, it’s not all on Sellers. The Gamecocks finished with more yardage in the second half, despite Ole Miss outscoring them 3-0 in that time. When it came down to making the big plays, though, South Carolina went 5-of-16 on third down and 1-of-4 on fourth down, which put the nail in the coffin on multiple drives.
Only scoring three points was a collective effort. And that’s where things needs to improve to have a better game offensively.
“I guess just make sure everything – o-line, receivers – us being on the same page,” Sellers said. “Getting separation, being able to throw it, trusting them as well.”
