Sellers soars to new heights in helping South Carolina offense put it all together
LaNorris Sellers knew the importance of setting the tone. If South Carolina could get off to a good start on Saturday, it would go a long way in trying to secure a win.
“I mean, if you start fast here, once the crowd gets into it, from there on it’s pretty much like solid,” Sellers said. “… If you get rolling that first drive, get the ball moving and you get the momentum rolling, you’ll be all right.”
On the opening drive, the Gamecocks were moving down the field against Texas A&M’s defense. Sellers completed his first pass of the night for a 20-yard gain. Then there were a few short yardage runs that put the ball inside Aggie territory, which led right into the big play.
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On a 2nd and 1 play, Sellers took a direct snap with an empty backfield and ran to his left. With a pulling offensive lineman and tight end, plus a convoy of other blockers, he had about as open of a hole as he could’ve asked for and ran untouched to the house for a 23-yard touchdown to quickly take a 7-0 lead.
“I mean, there’s not really much to say. Shoutout to our offensive line. They made the hole that was there,” Sellers said. “All I had to do was run through it and didn’t get touched.”
This would be the first of many big plays in a game where the Gamecock offense, after facing so many questions, finally had their breakout game. In a 44-20 win over A&M on Saturday, they amassed 530 total yards, easily their best outing of the season. And it all started with their redshirt freshman quarterback leading the charge.
“Dang, big time. I ain’t even gonna lie, big time, man,” Rocket Sanders said of Sellers’ performance. “When I first got here, there was talk about do he remind me of KJ (Jefferson)? And I feel like somewhat for real tonight he showed it. Very poised in the pocket. Every game, he’s just getting better. One thing that I said to him yesterday was just have self-confidence. I definitely feel like he had self-confidence tonight, for sure.”
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Sellers finished the night 13-for-27 passing for 244 yards and two touchdowns while only completing 48 percent of his passes. But it didn’t matter if that number was down. He was electric. Even in the run game, he carved up the Aggies’ defense, going for 106 yards and one touchdown on 15 attempts.
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“To be honest, I really don’t know. I mean, we knew (Texas A&M) had a good defensive line coming into it. So, it’s kind of like making a play and then just being aware of knowing when it’s over,” Sellers said on what worked for him in the run game. “They could shoot down and make you step up and then it’s a guy coming over, so he’s got to watch out for that guy, obviously. But you step up in the pocket, just find a lane and be decisive and go.”
Right out of the gate, his performance put the wheels in motion for the offense to go to work. He connected well with Sanders in the passing game, throwing to him five times for 92 yards. But Sanders also had a great game on the ground with 144 rushing yards and two touchdowns, including a 52-yard score in the third quarter.
It was an all-around collective effort to get the win from an offensive standpoint. Sellers and Sanders were outstanding. Josh Simon also had his breakout game where he hauled in four passes and went for 132 yards and two touchdowns. But the blocking was as good as it had been all year.
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While Sellers did run around a lot and break off from some defenders, South Carolina didn’t allow a single sack. This was coming off a game in which the offensive line gave up six to Oklahoma. On this night, though, everything was working for the Gamecocks with Sellers at the forefront of their success.
“There was a lot of talk about A&M’s quarterbacks and rightfully so. Both of those kids are really good players and were highly recruited and are fantastic young men,” head coach Shane Beamer said. “I told our team on Thursday after practice, in a game like this, two evenly matched, physical SEC teams, it comes down to quarterback play and we have the better quarterback. That wasn’t coach speak. That is how I truly felt. I told the team that in practice this week and he played like it tonight.”
