Don't sleep on South Carolina QB LaNorris Sellers in 2025 

There are several big-name quarterbacks heading into the 2025 season worth watching, but it appears that South Carolina Gamecocks quarterback LaNorris Sellers is being slept on. 

The media, at large, is talking about players like Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning and Clemson Tigers quarterback Cade Klubnik. Both players have been considered preseason favorites to be Heisman Trophy contenders.

Sellers, a redshirt sophomore, appears poised to take the college football world by storm, though. He's coming off a redshirt freshman season that saw him throw for 2,534 yards and 18 touchdowns (seven interceptions) while also rushing for 674 yards and seven touchdowns.

Sellers could easily find himself in the Heisman race as well, and there's also a realistic chance he'd be one of the top quarterbacks in the 2026 NFL Draft should he decide to make the jump after this season.

In fact, ESPN's Field Yates recently made a bold declaration on "Get Up" regarding the Gamecocks' quarterback.

“It’s LaNorris Sellers from South Carolina,” Yates said, when asked which college football quarterback has the highest ceiling (h/t On3). “He’s gigantic. He looks almost like an NFL tight end. Some of the things he’s able to do, both with his mobility outside the pocket and his movement inside the pocket, are hard to coach — maybe even impossible to coach."

For what it's worth, fellow ESPN commentator Louis Riddick, a former NFL player and front office executive, agreed with Yates.

“He’s got it all,” Riddick said.

Sellers will have a chance to show off his upside right away in 2025 in what will be an important game for the South Carolina program in Week 1 on a neutral field in Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium against the Virginia Tech Hokies. 

Virginia Tech is no powerhouse (anymore), but there's a massive storyline in this game regarding South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer. His father, Frank Beamer, had a legendary 29-year career as head coach of the Hokies, so this is a chance for the younger Beamer to really plant his flag and get a big win for his coaching legacy.

If South Carolina is to win, Sellers will have to be a major reason why. In general, the Gamecocks are going to need a big season from Sellers in order to improve on their 9-4 season from 2024.

If they can do that, and Sellers leads the way, he'll absolutely be the talk of the college football world. For what it's worth, South Carolina would also more than likely be in contention for the College Football Playoff.

Ultimately, the ESPN analysts are right about his upside, and it's about time the college football world takes notice.

Players Sellers' size who can both run and throw the ball at a high level don't come around often. Perhaps the last one to grace the college football landscape was Cam Newton, and he ended up going No. 1 overall to the Carolina Panthers in the 2011 NFL Draft and he has a Heisman Trophy and NFL MVP award to boast about in his trophy case.

That's the type of upside we're talking about, and that's something even Manning or Klubnik don't have.