College GameDay Shines Spotlight on LaNorris Sellers Ahead of South Carolina vs. Missouri
On Saturday morning, ESPN’s College GameDay set up shop in Miami, Florida, ahead of the Sunshine State showdown between the Florida Gators and Miami Hurricanes. With Kirk Herbstreit, Pat McAfee, Desmond Howard, Nick Saban, and Rece Davis hosting in front of a sea of Hurricanes fans, the panel still found time to discuss other marquee matchups—including South Carolina’s Mayor’s Cup clash with Missouri.
The Gamecocks’ star quarterback LaNorris Sellers was a key talking point.
Early in the broadcast, insider Pete Thamel doubled down on his earlier report, confirming that Sellers is expected to play against Missouri. “The Gamecocks’ Friday night availability report was the first one of the week that did not include Sellers,” Thamel explained. After suffering a helmet-to-helmet hit against Vanderbilt that sidelined him, Sellers was initially listed as “questionable” on Wednesday before being upgraded to “probable” on Thursday.
The GameDay crew also looked ahead to the 2026 NFL Draft, focusing on the top quarterback prospects. In a poll of 25 NFL executives and scouts, Sellers received the most votes as the draft’s projected “QB1.” In fact, eight decision-makers ranked him as the single best prospect in college football.
GameDay Picks: Can South Carolina Pull Off the Upset?
As always, the panel wrapped up with their weekly game picks. South Carolina-Missouri made the list, but the outlook wasn’t particularly rosy for Shane Beamer’s squad. At kickoff, BetMGM had the Tigers as 10.5-point favorites.
The picks against the spread broke down like this:
- Desmond Howard: Picked South Carolina to cover, though he stopped short of predicting an outright win.
- Nick Saban: Took Missouri to win and cover, while questioning Sellers’ health.
- Pat McAfee: Sided with the Gamecocks to cover.
- Matthew Tkachuk (guest picker): Backed Missouri in a blowout.
- Kirk Herbstreit: Suggested USC could win outright but at the very least would cover the spread.
South Carolina and Missouri square off Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. ET, with ESPN airing the SEC matchup and streaming available on the ESPN app.
