Scott Davis: Big dreams at QB1 for the Gamecocks

Scott Davis has followed South Carolina athletics for over 40 years and provides commentary from a fan perspective. He writes a weekly newsletter year-round and a column during football season that’s published each Monday on GamecockCentral.com.

Following is this week’s Scott Davis newsletter. To receive it each Friday, sign up here.

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It’s officially his now.

After a spirited battle in the spring and an ongoing competition in August, South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer formally named redshirt freshman LaNorris Sellers as the team’s starting quarterback this week. We expected the news, we planned on it, we waited on it. But until the word publicly came down from the head coach’s office, there was still a lingering vibe that QB1 might be up for grabs.

For now, it’s locked.

For now, the spotlight has been switched on, and it’s flickering a high-wattage glare upon the easygoing young man who just two years ago led South Florence High School to a state championship. In just over a week, he’ll lead his offense onto the Williams-Brice turf in front of 80,000 people.

I would expect there to be some butterflies, wouldn’t you? Then again, one of the most tantalizing characteristics Sellers has shown since arriving in Columbia as a highly touted recruit has been his relaxed, tranquil approach to the game.

Beamer said he couldn’t reach his QB before practice to tell him the news, so he let him know on the practice field. “It was the same conversation I would’ve had with him in the office,” said the coach. “It was ‘OK,’ and then back to what he was doing. That’s just him.”

Starting quarterback in the SEC? Sounds good. Let’s go practice.

More than anything, a Southeastern Conference quarterback needs to be cool under fire – because there will be fire, and a lot of it. In just over a year on campus, Sellers has shown every sign that he’ll be the type of player who will remain calm in the face of pressure.

If he’s feeling overwhelmed by the massive responsibilities of the position, he hasn’t displayed those anxieties to Gamecock fans at any point during his time in garnet and black. His coaches and teammates routinely describe him as being unfazed by his leadership role.

Of course, he hasn’t started a game yet.

What happens when SEC linebackers are creeping into the backfield and the pocket is collapsing?

We’re about to find out.

I’m ready, aren’t you?

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Expectations Rise Towards the Clouds

Coaches do everything in their power to keep us fans from fawning and freaking out and falling all over young quarterbacks. They remind us again and again that a talented youngster hasn’t done anything yet, hasn’t been in the battle, hasn’t gotten punched in the mouth.

And it’s true. Sellers hasn’t been sacked yet, hasn’t fumbled a snap or thrown an interception. For that matter, he hasn’t even thrown an incompletion in college. The quarterback went four-for-four on his pass attempts in limited action last season.

But he’s not exactly a blank slate, either.

Sellers was a four-star recruit coming off a championship senior season in which he put up obscene statistics and was consistently the best player on the field regardless of what field he was competing upon. He threw for a ludicrous 45 touchdowns in his final South Florence campaign, while also rushing for a staggering 1,300 yards and 17 TDs on the ground. At 6’3 and 240 pounds, he’ll be a beast for opposing defenses to bring down – even defenses in the mighty SEC.

And that’s why the campaign to keep South Carolina fans from letting their expectations soar into the clouds will probably be less successful than Sellers’ victorious effort to win the starting QB job.

We’re ready to believe in something and somebody. And until we’re given a reason to do otherwise, we’re going to.

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Brand Name QB?

When you think about the elite SEC football programs over the last decade, specific quarterbacks almost immediately come to mind for many of them.

Tua at Alabama. Joe Burrow at LSU. Stetson Bennett at Georgia. Going back a few years further gets us to Cam Newton at Auburn. These signal-callers were more than just the faces of their programs – they were name brands and highly visible stars that even casual fans knew about.

Even South Carolina’s archrivals up the road have been led by instantly recognizable star QBs in recent years. 

Spencer Rattler was the most well-known Gamecock quarterback in recent memory, but though he played well in garnet and black and parlayed his time in Columbia into an NFL roster spot, his offensive line’s ongoing struggles and the lack of playmakers surrounding him hampered his ability to skyrocket into the national stratosphere.

The handful of years before Rattler’s ascent at South Carolina featured a revolving door of athletes at the quarterback position, none of whom ever completely owned the role.

Going back to the Steve Spurrier Era, Connor Shaw won the hearts of South Carolina fans everywhere and cemented his legacy as the program’s winningest quarterback, but he was the consummate gritty scrapper who willed his team to victory rather than lighting up the stat sheet. Stephen Garcia’s career had its high-water moments for sure, but off-the-field issues ultimately kept him from ever quite reaching the high expectations that preceded his arrival.

Indeed, it’s worth asking whether South Carolina has ever had a genuinely iconic figure at the quarterback position. Would Todd Ellis qualify? Steve Taneyhill? Regardless, the list of candidates is not long.

Gamecock fans have been waiting for decades to cheer for a quarterback that terrified opposing defenses, that was known and feared far and wide, that slung the ball all over the field and put a charge into the scoreboard. For whatever reason, the quarterback we’ve been waiting for has eluded us.

And yes, it’s unfair to place that heavy burden upon Sellers’ young shoulders.

But there’s nothing fair about being a starting quarterback in the Southeastern Conference. It’s a war every week in this league, and you know what they say about war. All’s fair in it.

So for now, Gamecock fans will wait for that season opener with a small flutter in our chests. Could this finally be the time? Could this finally be the guy?

We shall see soon enough, my friends. For now, we dream big.

Tell me what you think about South Carolina’s new quarterback by writing me at [email protected].

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