The South Carolina Gamecocks have high expectations entering 2026. A big reason for that is the return of star quarterback LaNorris Sellers, who opted to return to the Gamecocks for his third season in Columbia.Â
Although Sellers had a breakout season in 2024 as a redshirt freshman, he regressed significantly in 2025. He was sacked a career-high 43 times on the season, as head coach Shane Beamer fired offensive coordinator Mike Shula before the 4-8 season was even over.Â
On Tuesday, ESPN released its full rankings for all 138 FBS quarterback situations entering the 2026 season. In the piece, David Hale places every starting FBS quarterback in different tiers and ranks them within there.Â
Sellers was placed in Hale's Tier 9: Crafty Veterans section. He was placed second behind Kansas State returning starter Avery Johnson.Â
"Sellers forced 48 missed tackles in 2025 -- the same total as 2024, when he seemed like the toughest QB on the planet to tackle. But his yards per rush went from 4.1 in 2024 to 1.8 in 2025, and his sack rate jumped from 8.7% to 11.1%.
Sellers played eight teams that finished with a winning record in each of the past two years. In 2024, he was 4-4 and averaged 7.5 yards per dropback (seventh best among qualified Power 4 players). In 2025, he was 0-8 and averaged 5.51 yards per dropback (58th). His sack total nearly doubled from 18 to 34, too."
It's no secret that Sellers regressed in the run game last season, finishing with a career-low 274 rush yards. But with the addition of offensive lineman transfers Jacarrius Peak and Emmanuel Poku, as well as the hiring of offensive line coach Randy Clements, Sellers should improve drastically. Not to mention the South Carolina offense as a whole is projected to be much better in 2026 under new offensive coordinator Kendal Briles' scheme.Â
The South Carolina signal-caller was included in the tier with Johnson along with Syracuse's Steve Angeli, Texas Tech's Kirk Francis and UCF's Alonza Barnett III.
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