What’s led to South Carolina QB LaNorris Sellers’ turnaround in November?
In a way, our dialogue around LaNorris Sellers has created somewhat of a double standard.
When the South Carolina quarterback, built at 6-foot-4, 240 pounds, was fumbling more than anyone in the country, coughing the ball twice in a loss at Alabama, he was too careless. He was trying to hit a home run on every play. He was pressing, doing too much, trying to will out an extra yard instead of knowing when to gear down.
When he makes it look like defensive ends are grabbing mashed potatoes as he wiggles out of sacks, sometimes defying gravity with ridiculous lower-body strength, he’s being athletic. He’s fighting to keep the play alive, fighting for his team. He’s performing a Houdini magic trick and making SEC defenders look silly.
You see where this is going.
The Sellers from October and the Sellers who threw for 353 yards and 5 touchdowns in a comeback win over No. 23 Missouri are the same person largely doing the same thing.
The way Sellers plays, he will fumble. Offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains calls that “the cost of doing business.” But there’s a difference between fumbling once every few games and fumbling once or twice every week.
Same goes for sacks. At the same time Sellers was leading the country in fumbles, South Carolina was allowing the most sacks in the nation. Drives were not just stalling out; they were being blown to smithereens. The offensive line, of course, shouldered some blame for that, but Sellers was culpable as well.
After all, he was the guy with the ball. He was the one being asked to make something happen.
Which brings us to Loggains, the much-maligned offensive coordinator whose approval rating has rocketed up since the Gamecocks took down then-No. 10 Texas A&M in early November. When he describes talking with quarterbacks, it’s more like therapist and patient versus coach and player.
“Sometimes the best thing a coach can do is kind of figure out how each person’s mind works,” Loggains said.
So how does Sellers’ mind work?
“Once he figures out why something happened in the moment,” Loggains said, “that’s how we correct those things. So we keep showing him and educating him.”
Earlier this season, Loggains and Sellers had one of those shut-the-door-type meetings. It was film of all the fumbles. Loggains went through each, talking through technique and hoping he learned something.
But two weeks ago, after a weekend filled with college and NFL quarterbacks fumbling, Loggains showed his QB1 those clips, too. It was proof that, yes, other people fumble and perhaps a way for Sellers to see the fumbles from a different vantage point.
Something seems to have clicked because Sellers is playing like a man who has never dropped the ball in his life. It looks like he’s playing backyard football. In the best way possible, he doesn’t seem to be thinking. He’s just doing.
Early in the season, it felt like Sellers was trying to decide if he wanted to be a running quarterback or a passing quarterback. In the season opener against Old Dominion, he looked hesitant to throw, taking off running 22 times. A week later, he ran just seven times and twice fumbled as he was rolling out, waiting for a receiver to come open rather than just taking off.
Ramon Robinson, Sellers quarterback coach dating back years, said some of the redshirt freshman quarterbacks’ recent success is Sellers finally being comfortable with his teammates and them understanding him.
Perhaps it took two months longer than South Carolina fans would have liked, but the offensive looks like a cohesive unit. The offensive line is blocking better. The wide receivers are getting open more, especially when Sellers scrambles. And the running backs are running harder and blocking better.
That creates trust and trust allows for freedom.
Robinson has always said to Loggains: “Just let him go, Coach. Just let him go and he’ll make everyone else around him better.”
That’s starting to come to fruition.
“He’s not afraid to make mistakes,” Robinson said. “It’s just that you have to put into his mind, ‘Dude, play your game.’ ”
