How can USC’s LaNorris Sellers look so good at times, then fumble it all away?
LaNorris Sellers’ fumbling problem is obscuring everything else about his play at quarterback. How can anyone talk about the good when the bad is so jarring?
Yet, two things can both be true: Sellers has a fumbling issue. He also played his best game of the season last week against Alabama.
It is a hard discussion because parsing between good quarterbacking and turnovers is complicated. How could Sellers have played his best game of the season when that game included losing two fumbles and throwing a late-game interception?
It is understandable if someone wanted to take the totality of Sellers’ performance in the Gamecocks 27-25 loss — turnovers included — when discussing his game.
But for a second, let’s forget the turnovers happened, pretend Sellers didn’t fumble at the end of both halves and throw a late pick.
What we are left with is, unarguably, the best performance of Sellers’ young starting career.
The Alabama game included Sellers’ highest completion percentage (74.2%), his most completions (23), his most yards (238) and tied his mark for most touchdowns thrown (2).
All in just his second road start ever — in a stadium where the club of victorious visiting quarterbacks of the last 15 years is limited to Auburn’s Cam Netwon, LSU’s Jordan Jefferson, Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel, Ole Miss’ Chad Kelly, LSU’s Joe Burrow and Texas’ Quinn Ewers.
“LaNorris was right on the verge of adding his name to legendary quarterbacks who have won in that stadium,” said South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer. “It says a lot about him. It says a lot about the people around him. ... I thought it was a heck of a performance.”
Really, it was only Sellers’ third full game of his career. His missed a few drives in the Gamecocks’ blowout of Kentucky. He was on the sidelines for nearly the entire second half against LSU with an ankle injury. Then, still healing the ankle, Sellers missed the entire game against Akron.
You can frame Sellers as this experienced quarterback who’s been starting for over a month, been playing SEC competition for over a month, who’s already gone through a bye week, who should be showing drastic signs of improvement.
You can also frame his as a kid who has played in three full games, who’s season was detoured by an injury and who is finally just understanding how to be an SEC starter.
“He’s still young and hasn’t played a ton of football,” Beamer said
And, yet, youth doesn’t explain the fumbling. Youth explains a few fumbles, a mishap here, a slip-up there. It does not account for the fact that no college football player this season has more fumbles than Sellers’ 7.
He has the most fumbles in the country while missing six quarters of football.
The concern, though, was quelled for weeks because — as we’ve written before — Sellers is incredibly lucky. Before the Alabama game, the pigskin had slipped out of Sellers’ grasp five times, but the Gamecocks recovered four of those. Whatever rabbit’s foot he was rubbing created some divine bounces.
Fumbling is like speeding — it’s not a problem until it is, until you see those flashing lights in your rear-view mirror.
On Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium, Sellers picked up two speeding tickets. He fumbled at the end of the first half. Alabama recovered. Then in the fourth quarter, with the Gamecocks clinging to a lead, the USC quarterback put another on the ground. The Crimson Tide recovered and punched in the go-ahead touchdown shortly after.
Sellers noted part of the fumble frequency is he’s trying to keep plays alive, trying to evade a sack and find a way to keep running. He makes himself vulnerable and pays the price. So, part of the remedy is for Sellers to understand when to take a sack — while also still being a threat to pick up yards with his legs.
“If you worry about them happening, they’re gonna happen,” Sellers said. “You just have to go out there and play.”
Play ... with more caution.
This story was originally published October 16, 2024 at 7:20 AM.
