Shane Beamer says LaNorris Sellers is Gamecocks starting QB heading into the summer

The best quarterback at South Carolina was pretty clear after the spring game.

On Monday during his Welcome Home Tour stop in Florence, USC coach Shane Beamer confirmed that, saying redshirt freshman LaNorris Sellers is South Carolina’s starting quarterback coming out of spring practice.

Beamer wanted to be clear, though.

This was not an admission that Sellers was the Gamecocks’ starting quarterback, but that he has told the team it’ll be Sellers out there for the first snap of the season on Aug. 31 against Old Dominion.

This was Beamer saying what everyone knew: That, right now, Sellers is the Gamecocks top quarterback and will enter fall camp as QB1 with Auburn transfer Robby Ashford currently slated as the Gamecocks’ backup.

“We will continue to compete at all positions,” Beamer said. “The headline is going to be, ‘Beamer names LaNorris Sellers starting quarterback.’ LaNorris is the starting quarterback coming out of spring.

“Robby did a great job during spring practice along with our other quarterbacks,” Beamer said. “LaNorris did a great job and I expect LaNorris to continue to compete and continue to earn that position as well.”

Sellers, a Florence native who was at the Gamecock Club event on Monday, was good enough to earn the honor of Gamecocks’ Offensive Player of the Spring.

Then in the Garnet & Black Spring Game, he solidified the hardware by looking better than any other QB. The 6-foot-3, 240-pound dual-threat quarterback completed 9 of 11 passes for 70 yards, scored a 13-yard rushing touchdown and extended plays as well as you could in a scrimmage.

Last season as the Gamecocks’ backup, Sellers appeared in just three games but made a pair of plays that had folks feeling really, really good about the future of USC’s quarterback room. He hurled a 50-yard touchdown pass against Furman then ran in a 36-yard score against Vandy.