Injury report: The latest on LaNorris Sellers
With four days until South Carolina hosts Akron this Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium, Gamecocks quarterback LaNorris Sellers assures head coach Shane Beamer that he’ll be ready to play.
If he’s not — or if the staff isn’t quite comfortable yet putting him out there after the redshirt freshman quarterback sprained his ankle this past week against LSU — then Robby Ashford will likely get his first start in the Garnet and Black.
“We told Robby and Davis (Beville) they’ll continue to compete this week and LaNorris assures me he’s good and will be ready to roll,” Beamer said Tuesday during his weekly press conference. “But Robby went into the LSU game as the second quarterback and came out of the LSU game as the second quarterback. He’ll be better for it. Davis is someone that we have a lot of confidence in, there’s no question about it, and we’ll continue to develop everybody at every position.”
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Sellers, who has started each of the first three games for South Carolina, sprained his ankle late in the first half of the loss to the Tigers. He wanted to return to the game in the second half, and did so for one drive, but the staff wasn’t comfortable with him finishing the game at less than 100 percent.
While many may look at Akron as a team South Carolina can beat without its starting quarterback, Beamer says the Gamecocks can’t afford to overlook the Zips and that the decision to play or sit Sellers will be based on his health.
“Yeah, but we’re trying to win a game Saturday night and that’s not going to be easy either,” Beamer said. “I know it’s easy to say, ‘well this is not an SEC team’ and they’re 1-2 and they lost to Ohio State and Rutgers (but) this team presents problems. We’ve got to do what we have to do to win the football game on Saturday but certainly we’re always going to do what’s best for our players and our football team. But we’ve got a bunch of competitors.
“Saturday, LaNorris wanted to play in that game. I didn’t think it was best for him or the team for him to finish the second half from a health standpoint. I just didn’t think he was where he needed to be. Certainly, if a guy is where he needs to be — any position, quarterback or kicker or whatever — if they feel like they’re where they need to be in order to play and we feel like they’re where they need to be, then we’re going to get them out there for sure.”
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At least two other key players, wide receiver Jared Brown and defensive lineman T.J. Sanders, exited the LSU game early.
“Health-wise, certainly a physical football game against LSU last Saturday,” Beamer said. “As we sit here on Tuesday, optimistic that all of our keys guys will be able to play. Everybody did a little bit today to a certain degree and I think they’ll all be able to do a degree more tomorrow and then we’ll see as we get closer to Saturday from a health standpoint where we are.”
The Gamecocks and Zips kick off at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium on ESPNU.
