South Carolina Football: Shane Beamer names starting quarterback

It is finally official. On Monday, South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer told the media in Florence on his Welcome Home Tour that the Gamecocks' starting quarterback coming out of spring practice is redshirt freshman LaNorris Sellers. You can watch the video here (video credit: Jordan Kaye of The State).

The news comes as a surprise to almost no one who has paid any attention to the QB room in Columbia. Robby Ashford and Davis Beville transferred into the program to help out the depth situation, and Dante Reno is a true freshman. Almost everyone around the Gamecocks believed Sellers would win the job, and he did.

Now, this doesn't mean that the job belongs to Sellers no matter what happens. In his comments, Beamer made sure to emphasize that Sellers has to perform well enough to keep the job and specifically mentioned Robby Ashford's name when giving the caveat about continued competition at the position.

However, LaNorris Sellers is the man under center (and in the gun) for the South Carolina football program.

There are plenty of reasons for Gamecock fans to be excited about Sellers' role as QB1 this fall.

He's outrageously gifted as an elite athlete at the position (he's been clocked under 4.5 in the 40-yard dash) while weighing in around 240 pounds. He also has ridiculous arm strength that was on display last season when he uncorked a 50-yard touchdown strike to Tyshawn Russell against Furman. Former Gamecock tight end Trey Knox even went as far as to say that Sellers "just flicks his wrist" and the ball travels 60 yards.

He is also a person of good character and intelligence. Winning countless awards for leadership and academics while in high school, Sellers also was labeled as a hard worker upon his arrival to campus last year. All of those ingredients add up to equal the "it" that quarterbacks just have to have at the college level (in addition to their talent) to be successful.

While the season still is almost four months away, South Carolina football fans cannot wait to read every report and watch every social media clip they can of the bespectacled #16 until toe meets rubber on August 31st against Old Dominion in Williams-Brice Stadium.