The South Carolina Gamecocks quarterback LaNorris Sellers still has to wait some time to win TDs. Right now, he is busy winning hearts. “This is a guy who took off the second half of last year. If he can do anything remotely similar to what he did during the second half of last year for the entirety of this year, we have a star on our hands…I am a huge fan of this kid.” This was the comment made by Joel Klatt, who ranked the quarterback No. 8 in the country in his 2025 offseason rankings. That’s how Sellers’ fan base is expanding with every passing day. And Klatt is now joined by Josh Pate, who had to alter his tune for Shane Beamer’s signal-caller.
When it comes to loyalty, Sellers already deserves a gold star. The South Carolina quarterback has seen his competitors run after money and swap wagons. You name them – Carson Beck is reportedly making a little over $3 million flipping to Miami. The same trend applies to Tulane transfer Darian Mensah, who reportedly secured a massive $4 million per year deal ($8 million over two years) with Duke. That’s when Pete Nakos tweeted, “LaNorris Sellers at South Carolina could have been over $3 million easily if he had gone in.” Turns out that Sellers will be the quarterback to watch in 2025. Pate’s analysis takes the excitement to a higher level.
On Josh Pate’s College Football Show on June 3, the analyst came up with his ‘Power Rating 2025 SEC Quarterbacks’. In the latest list, Sellers earned a spot at No.3, right after DJ Lagway at No.1 and Arch Manning at No.2. Now, that’s not the order that Pate came up with a few days back. This called for some changes, and the analyst gladly accepted it. He stated, “Recently, like a month ago, we ranked the returning quarterbacks and I had [Garrett] Nusemeier ahead of Sellers, and boy, I heard from some coaches. So I trust them over me, believe it or not. And good for me, by the way, for deferring to people who actually coach the game for a living.”
Pate continued that he was being called out for putting Garrett Nussmeier on a higher pedestal than Sellers. “But I had some DCs hit me up and say, ‘Yeah, no the South Carolina kid you need to bump him up.’ So, I got LaNorris Sellers No.3, Garrett Nussmeier No.4.” Beamer, too, believes he has a star on his hands in Sellers, and that’s hard to argue. The quarterback was the 2025 SEC Freshman of the Year and the 2024 National Freshman Offensive Player of the Year. Standing tall at 6’3” and weighing 240 pounds, he comes off as a package with incredible athleticism.
In his freshman campaign, Sellers threw for over 2,500 yards and notched 18 touchdown passes while limiting his interceptions to just seven. He had put in some heroic feats during the 2024 season. For instance, in the Gamecocks’ face-off against LSU, the No.16 responded with a huge 75-yard touchdown run. Sellers became the hero of the evening by pulling the pigskin out of Jared Brown’s grips and shooting through the middle of the USC offensive line. He waited on a block from guard Kamaar Bell (52) and then handled the rest himself. But after all this, he fell prey to an ankle sprain, otherwise, he would have earned yet another victory. On another occasion, trailing 27-19 late, Carolina needed a miracle while facing off against Alabama.
That’s when Sellers came up with an Aladdin lamp and granted their wish, and with Nyck Harbor’s help, came up with a beautiful touchdown. Now, you know why Pate got pressured to revamp his rankings. If that’s not enough clarity, here comes some more.
LaNorris Sellers is giving off Jalen Hurts vibes
The month of November could not have been any better for Sellers. The then-redshirt freshman averaged 261 yards passing and 81 yards rushing per game during a five-game winning streak to end the regular season. With this, he has already gained the Heisman hype as he plays a lot like Cam Newton did when Newton was at Auburn for his 2010 Heisman Trophy season. Draft expert and The Ringer analyst Todd McShay also dialed in to sprinkle some more praise on Beamer’s quarterback.
He said, Sellers “has the traits of a future QB1, should he show continued development in his second year as a starter for the Gamecocks in 2025.” Looks like the analyst did some in-depth research on the Gamecocks quarterback. Post which he came up with some interesting findings. McShay compared Sellers to Super Bowl championship-winning quarterback Jalen Hurts. The Philadelphia Eagles selected Hurts in the second round of the 2020 NFL draft. Later on, in 2023, Hurts signed a five-year, $255 million extension.
Now, where does LaNorris Sellers look similar to Jalen Hurts? McShay compared Sellers to the Eagles star, pointing out their similar physical attributes, playmaking creativity, character, and competitive drives. While McShay sees Sellers as the perfect package blended with size, mobility, and arm strength, in Shane Beamer’s lens, the quarterback is yet to hit perfection. As the head coach stated, “He’s competing after a season like he had in 2024. I see him being more vocal, being willing to hold his teammates and himself accountable. Just a lot more confidence in the role and confident in himself and more vocal.” From skills to support, he’s got it all. Just add confidence and watch Sellers cook.
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