South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers faced the media after the Gamecocks’ tough 20-10 loss to LSU, offering an honest breakdown of what went wrong offensively and how the team plans to regroup. Sellers, who threw for 124 yards and one interception, didn’t hold back when discussing penalties, pressure, and execution.
On costly penalties
“It’s super frustrating,” Sellers said. “We’d be driving the ball down the field, get to the red zone or a chance to score, and then somebody gets a penalty or something like that happens. It’s just something we’ve got to continue to work on and get better at.”
He admitted that the team’s focus and discipline need to improve: “Better technique. We’ve just got to be smarter, really.”
On LSU’s defensive pressure
When asked about the Gamecocks’ struggles in the passing game, Sellers credited LSU’s defense for mixing things up.
“It’s just a mix of everything,” he explained. “Offensively, you’ve got to have all 11 guys on the same page. They may bring a pressure we didn’t see. Kudos to them—they were dialing stuff up. We’ve got to be better, got to see it, execute, and communicate better.”
Sellers noted that LSU threw in some new looks after having extra time to prepare. “They had some new stuff,” he said. “They had two weeks to prepare. We had two weeks to prepare, too, but they brought some good stuff.”
On adjusting to offensive line injuries
With multiple linemen out, including Shed Sarratt, Sellers said communication was critical.
“It just takes everybody,” he emphasized. “Different people have different strengths and weaknesses. You’ve just got to continue to keep everybody on the same page.”
On the final fourth-and-four play
Sellers broke down the final offensive snap that fell short.
“We had like a circus route, a seam down the middle, and a skinny route,” he said. “They had a good call—they dropped pretty much everybody into coverage, so it’s kind of like we had nowhere else to throw it. They dropped eight or nine into zone.”
On staying focused after the loss
Asked how he’ll approach the rest of the season after a 3-3 start, Sellers focused on leadership.
“Just continue being a leader,” he said. “I’m doing what I can to help the team, make sure everybody else is good. But I try not to talk about last year too much because it was last year. Stuff has changed. Different teams.”
On designed runs and pressure
Sellers confirmed that several designed runs early in the game were part of the plan. “It was just something that we thought would be good, just based on last year or stuff like that from other teams.”
When asked if the constant pressure affects his reads, he replied, “Not really. Teams are going to pressure me—we know that’s gonna happen. But if they pressure, then they leave zones open, so we’ve got to see it and diagnose it faster.”
On intentional grounding calls
Sellers admitted confusion about the two grounding penalties called against him.
“I really don’t know, to be honest,” he said. “I didn’t want to take another sack—it was two or three guys in my face. I think I’ve just got to get out of the pocket.”
On missed opportunities
When drives stalled, Sellers said he tried to keep his teammates focused.
“I just keep going. We can’t really focus on it—it happened. We’ve got to put it behind us and just keep moving forward.”
On self-evaluation
Reflecting on his own performance, Sellers said, “Other than that one pick, we didn’t have a lot of turnovers, so that’s pretty good. But the intentional groundings—it’s just iffy calls, I would say. But it’s got to be better in that aspect of it.”
On Rahsul Faison’s second-half spark
Sellers also praised the ground game late.
“Yeah,” he said with a smile. “It was just inside zones. He got rolling.”
Despite the struggles, Sellers’ poise and accountability stood out — traits South Carolina will need as they prepare to host No. 6 Oklahoma next weekend.
