Shane Beamer was just about to get revved up when the real question presented itself.
“I think there’s a bunch of absolute horse garbage on social media right now,” the South Carolina coach said, interrupting a reporter’s query about rumors that quarterback LaNorris Sellers may be leaving the program.
Before he could finish his thought, the reporter informed Beamer that “some” of those rumors stated South Carolina’s QB would be returning to campus next season.
“Hopefully,” an exhausted and now smirking Beamer replied, “that’s not horse garbage.”
Beamer, like his star quarterback, has had a long year.
One of the most physically talented college football players, regardless of position, Sellers is the most gifted quarterback who could enter the 2026 NFL Draft. A dynamic 6-foot-3, 240-pound redshirt sophomore in his second season as a starter, Sellers entered 2025 as one of the top players to watch on every NFL scouting board.
However, in 10 starts, the 20-year-old QB has completed just 59 percent of his passes for 1,778 yards, nine touchdowns and six interceptions. A preseason Heisman Trophy contender, Sellers is almost certainly going to finish 2025 showing statistical decline nearly across the board.
Those struggles, along with his team’s poor performance, have sparked questions about his future. Is he ready for the NFL Draft? If not, as some of those so-called “horse garbage” rumors suggest, would he be better served playing next season at another school?
To try to figure it all out, let’s take a look at Sellers’ on-field performance.
The biggest issue beyond Sellers’ control has been South Carolina’s pass protection.
Entering this weekend, Sellers ranks as the second-most pressured Power 4 starter (139 times), behind only Texas’ Arch Manning. The difference? Manning has faced one of the highest blitz rates of any quarterback in college football; Sellers is among the least-blitzed QBs.
South Carolina fired offensive coordinator Mike Shula after nine games, and the returns for at least the first half of South Carolina’s upset-turned-collapse at Texas A&M were promising. Anyone calling the plays for a Sellers-led offense should want to take advantage of Sellers’ big-play ability from the pocket. Shula dialed up several vertical concepts earlier this season, only for them to be sabotaged by horrendous blocking, time and time again.
Sellers isn’t running himself into pressures or sacks, either. He’s been guilty of hanging onto the ball too long at times (and that’s absolutely part of the argument for him returning to school in 2026), but most of the pressures or throws on which he’s had to bail quickly have come because he’s had zero chance to finish his drops.
This is an excellent example of something we’ve seen far too often from South Carolina:
The Gamecocks are running a vertical pass concept, which requires a five-step drop from Sellers. Missouri counters with a three-man rush, dropping eight (with two spies). When Sellers lands his fifth step and comes out of his drop, the first thing he sees is that all three defensive linemen have beaten his five offensive linemen — two of them are directly in his face.
He doesn’t have time to do anything on this play. He can’t throw; he can’t step up; he can’t spin out. It’s a mess.
Here’s another example from the Gamecocks’ season opener against Virginia Tech:
Sellers comes out of his drop, takes a hitch and immediately gets earholed by one of three Hokies rushers.
This play explores whether Sellers always feels the rush immediately. Here, you could probably squint and make a case that he should’ve noticed the pressure faster and bailed from the pocket. But that’s really splitting hairs, in my opinion.
This is another play — one of many — when Sellers has no chance to do anything.
We used to call these “look-out” blocks. Unfortunately for Sellers and the Gamecocks, this has been the quarterback’s life far too often this season. Again, this is not an example of Sellers dropping his eyes and running out of a stable pocket because he’s lost on a concept. He’s trying to process but isn’t given a chance.
The constant pressure makes it difficult to gauge how much progress Sellers has made. There are still occasions in which he’ll stare down his first or second read, leaving yards on the table elsewhere. However, there’s also evidence that Sellers processes and releases quickly and accurately.
Last year, his time-to-throw number was an even three seconds. This year, despite all the pressure, he’s shaved it down to 2.92.
It’d be one thing if Sellers were having a hard time diagnosing pressure because of a high blitz rate or a constant barrage of defensive wizardry, too. That’s not what’s going on here. He’s made plenty of big-time throws this season, both from a stable pocket and in the face of pressure.
It’s not hard to see how gifted he is.
When he’s able to throw from a stable base, Sellers can put the ball anywhere he wants. He’s a relatively consistent deep ball thrower, with or without pressure. He can make throws into tight windows from the opposite hash. He can throw on the run. And, though it’s probably not as consistent as he’d like it to be right now, he can process from the pocket.
Sellers has intriguing receivers at South Carolina, to be sure. Nyck Harbor is one of the best athletes in the country, and Vandrevius Jacobs has made several big plays. However, it isn’t the most polished pass-catching outfit as a whole, as Sellers has had 13 of his passes dropped this season. That’s a middle-of-the-road number in the SEC (No. 6 among the conference’s starting QBs).
So, it’s not a talent problem, and it’s not even necessarily a system problem. The performance of South Carolina’s offensive line is the chief reason why Sellers’ current draft evaluation is complicated.
But it’s not the only reason.
As was the case last year, Sellers’ ability to process what he sees is not consistent. He’ll get stuck on an early read or stare down a receiver on a vertical route now and then, and that type of stuff almost always leads to trouble.
His accuracy also has dipped considerably this season, as his off-target rate has climbed from 12 percent in 2024 to 16 percent. Sellers’ footwork seems to have improved, though his bad habits return at times. The bigger issue is that Sellers is still struggling with changing speeds on layered and intermediate throws.
All of this is at least somewhat affected by the pressure he’s faced. Eventually, even NFL quarterbacks will get a tad antsy back there if they’re not protected.
Sellers has been sacked 35 times this season, second most in college football. He’s also escaped on a scramble 41 times, the fifth-highest number nationally. On a whopping 42.7 percent of his dropbacks this season, Sellers has faced pressure.
This is tough.
Even with Sellers’ struggles in 2025, it’s hard to envision a QB-needy NFL team not grading him as a first-rounder based on talent alone. The only way that might change in the coming months is if Sellers fails to impress during interviews.
He’s incredibly mobile in the pocket and an elite escape artist, thanks to his power and terrific contact balance. His arm is massive, and though there’s still plenty of work to do on his polish, Sellers has shown year-over-year growth as a pocket processor. You have to want to see it.
However, he’d also be a sizable risk for an NFL franchise, based purely on the lack of reps he’s had in a functional offense. He could go to the Shrine Bowl or Senior Bowl after the season and ease scouting concerns, but that’s certainly no guarantee. And Sellers obviously could earn big money by returning to school, potentially even becoming the prize of what should be a high-priced QB transfer portal market.
At 3-7, South Carolina won’t be playing again this season after its Nov. 29 finale with Clemson. From there, all eyes will be on Sellers, whose future decision looks very layered.
