Signs of progression in LaNorris Sellers' game on full display in Saturday's win

It wasn’t a jail escape or milk can escape level act. But it was still a worthy enough performance that Houdini himself would’ve tipped his cap for.

While Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia made a lot of Houdini-like plays, it would be LaNorris Sellers who stole the show with a few tricks up his sleeve in a 28-7 win for South Carolina over the Commodores on Saturday.

After a Cason Henry holding penalty pushed the Gamecocks back on the first play of the second half, Sellers took the next snap and dropped back to pass. He danced around in the pocket until he was about to be crushed by a defender who had two hands on him.

But in Houdini-esque fashion, Sellers, with his upper body being yanked down, managed to break out of the potential sack and rolled out to his left with room to run. With it being 1st and 20, he wouldn’t have been able to run for the first down. Realizing this in the moment, he made the wiser decision to throw on the run to a wide-open Jared Brown for a 51-yard gain.

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If Sellers had been sacked, he would’ve been brought down inside his own five-yard line, and who knows what would’ve happened from there. But because of his abilities, he was able to turn nothing into something, which led to South Carolina scoring a touchdown two plays later.

“I ain’t gonna lie, I thought he got tackled,” said Rocket Sanders, the recipient of that 33-yard touchdown run. “… As a quarterback, you’ve got to be able to do that. Like I said last week, stepping up in the pocket and doing the things he doing, if he keep doing that, we winning.”

Sanders was the star of the show and the main catalyst in South Carolina’s offense performing the way it did. But there’s something to be said about Sellers’ performance, especially with plays like this one.

“Once he grabbed me, I mean, it’s pretty much like, I know I turned the ball over a lot so I was just don’t turn the ball over,” Sellers said on the 51-yard pass play. “And then he let go of me and then I seen green grass, and at that point, it’s just football, so just made a play.”

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Sellers had another solid game on Saturday, finishing 14-of-20 passing for 238 yards and two touchdowns with zero interceptions. He completed 70 percent of his passes, which is the third time this year in which he’s done that or better.

But when he’s needed to, he’s been able to get on his horse and use his legs effectively. He didn’t have a 100-plus yard game on the ground this time around, but he ran for 38 yards and only made one mistake — a second-quarter fumble, which didn’t hold much weight in a 21-point win.

“There’s just a clock in my head. They just preach it to me,” Sellers said on deciding what goes into throwing vs. running on any given play. “They have been preaching to me just like a clock in my head, just because I’ve got my legs so why not use them.”

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Part of what has worked so well for Sellers lately has been what’s gone on behind the scenes during the week. Lately in practice, South Carolina has been working with the redshirt freshman quarterback and put him through what the team called a “scramble drill.”

“It helps a lot,” Sellers said. “Because they got out of position, they’re so worried about me running the ball they let receivers turn free, run free. If they can get open while I’m scrambling and they come to get me, it’s like it just opens up the passing game.”

It was only a few weeks ago that many were questioning if Sellers was really the guy after turning the ball over three times in a 27-25 loss to Alabama. But over the last three games, all of which South Carolina has won, he’s done a much better job of keeping the ball off the ground with no interceptions and only two fumbles lost.

“I’m feeling good,” Sellers said. “Like you said, it slowed down for me, just like more time, more experience. I’m just feeling good, comfortable.”

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