COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina coach Shane Beamer got a text recently from an SEC rival coach impressed with freshman quarterback LaNorris Sellers.
“You’ve got ‘Superman’ back there,” the message read, Beamer said.
Sellers may not be the “Man of Steel,” but he’s certainly making a major impact for No. 23 South Carolina. And he showed that again on Saturday night with his career-best showing in a 34-30 victory over No. 24 Missouri.
Sellers, a redshirt freshman who took over the starting job from NFL rookie Spencer Rattler, threw for 353 yards and five touchdown passes, the last an inside throw that Raheim Sanders took 15 yards to the end zone with 15 seconds to go as they twice rallied from behind in the fourth quarter.
One play in particular floored Gamecocks defensive tackle Alex Huntley where Sellers twisted out of a sack on the next-to-last scoring drive before hitting tight end Brady Hunt for 11 yards on thrid-and-10. “Did he get sacked?” Huntley recalled saying.
“The second he got out of it, I knew something good was going to happen,” he said.
Sellers has done that more and more the past month after the Gamecocks stood 3-3 after a loss at Alabama on Oct. 12. He’s led the way as South Carolina collected wins against Oklahoma (35-9) and ranked teams in Texas A&M (44-20) and Vanderbilt (28-7).