LaNorris Sellers Reacts to Missouri Loss, Addresses Offensive Struggles
South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers threw for 302 yards and two touchdowns in Saturday’s 29-20 loss at Missouri. After the game, Sellers spoke with reporters about missed opportunities, the running game, and what the offense needs to do moving forward.
On the first-and-goal sack
“It was just a different look. They passed it off pretty well. It was really a fullback to the backside, shallow look, but they passed it off. So I mean, you just need to throw it away.”
On balancing holding the ball versus throwing it away
“It’s just playing the game. If I can make a play, try to make a play, but when it gets to a point, you’ve got to throw it away, just throw it away.”
On his practice reps during the week
“I think Tuesday was pretty light, but I don’t get touched anyway in practice. So I mean, I can go through practice and be all right. Monday, I think I was off. Sunday, I didn’t really do much, got on the bike a little bit. Tuesday was light. Wednesday, I was pretty much full go.”
On finishing with -9 rushing yards as a team
“We’ve just got to be better. Just got to execute better, communicate better, just get looks right, stuff like that.”
On whether the run game can improve
“I think we can figure it out. Last year, we were pretty much in the same situation. Start off slow at the beginning of the year, got it rolling later. Including with me, we can all get better. But I’m sure we can get it rolling, figure it out.”
On being called to run less often
“I think that’s a weird topic because I did a lot of read-option stuff last year, but people were just taking the running back out. I think now they’re just zoning it off and then they’re seeking across with linebackers. They know what’s coming, too. So they’re sitting, making sure I don’t keep the ball, and then the linebackers are coming up over the top of that. And then if I do have a run or something, they’re just all shooting gaps. So it’s kind of like, they know it’s coming too.”
On pre-snap penalties
“You’ve just got to lock in on it. It’s pretty much like keying in on my voice. Yes, it’s loud, we’re in SC and all that, but I mean, we’re gonna play places where it’s gonna get louder. We’ve just got to key in on the voice, key in on the snap count. I think that’s pretty much what it is. It’s keying on and focus.”
On the lack of production in the fourth quarter
“No, it just comes back to we had penalties, stuff like that. They’re just dropping off in zone. We’ve got to get something quick rolling, get it rolling, and then get into a rhythm. Penalties really killed us.”
On rolling out of the pocket more often
“It’s like pretty much what the defense (does). Like, we don’t really know what they’re going to do, how they’re going to play it because, yeah, we can roll out, but they can just shoot the end up field and blitz a linebacker. So if they’re shooting upfield and I have to step up, linebacker’s coming right there. They’re trying to contain me, really, so they’re never going to let me get outside because then I can run it or throw it. So it’s a defensive thing, really.”
On the first-and-goal play call
“I think it was just what we was feeling, pretty much. We knew where they were going to play something similar to that. They played what we thought, but they just passed it off. So that’s all that was.”
On whether the offense should have run the ball in that spot
“I don’t know. Play call in that moment, it’s just in that moment, how are you feeling, like I said.”
On building off success through the air
“We’ve just got to run the ball, keep teams honest, really. If you run the ball, it’ll open up the pass game. If we can do both, it will be tough for defenses to stop.”
On what needs to change for South Carolina to bounce back
“I can’t really speak for the defense. I don’t really know because I’m watching film while they’re out there. But, offensively, we’ve just got to execute better. That’s just what it comes down to. We’ve got to pass block, we’ve got to throw the ball, catch the ball, run the ball, just do all the things you need to do to move the ball. It takes all 11 of us.
