South Carolina might have been late in recruiting LaNorris Sellers, but it ended up with the Gamecocks landing the quarterback.
The South Florence High quarterback announced his commitment Friday to play for Shane Beamer’s Gamecocks. Sellers had been committed to Syracuse since March but opted to stay home instead.
The early signing period opened on Wednesday, but Sellers waited until Friday to make the announcement during a ceremony in the South Florence High auditorium.
Sellers is USC’s fifth in-state commit for the Class of 2023 and is expected to enroll early in January. He is the lone quarterback in this year’s Gamecocks class.
He is a four-star prospect by 247Sports Composite and the No. 5 prospect in South Carolina. Four of the top five players in the 247Sports Composite from withing the state are committed to play for the Gamecocks.
Sellers threw for 2,928 yards and 45 touchdowns, and rushed for 1,338 yards and 22 touchdowns as a senior. He was a finalist for the state’s Mr. Football award and was named Class 4A Lower State Back of the Year.
Recruiting recap
Syracuse had a coaching change late in the recruiting process with offensive coordinator Robert Anae leaving to take a job at North Carolina State. Anae recruited Sellers when he was at Virginia, and Sellers was a one-time commit to UVA before Anae left for Syracuse.
He has been on Gamecocks’ radar for the past two seasons and attended camps at USC the past two years. USC didn’t offer Sellers until the middle of October, and Gamecocks coaches remained in constant contact over the past few months.
Several of USC commitments did their best to try and get Sellers to flip to the Gamecocks. USC commits Markee Anderson of Dorman and Monteque Rhames of Manning were teammates with Sellers at the Shrine Bowl and made their pitch to him.
“I see a lot of potential with him and see us winning a lot with him. He is a playmaker and can run the offense,” Rhames said.
Gamecocks assistant coaches Justin Stepp, Jody Wright, Greg Adkins, Jimmy Lindsey and Torrian Gray all were on hand for Sellers’ state championship game against Northwestern on Dec. 3.
Sellers threw for 260 yards, ran for 192 and had six total touchdowns in helping the Bruins to a 57-30 win over Northwestern for the school’s first state championship.
“Special. I’m going to say it one more time: He is the best football player in the state and it’s not even close,” South Florence coach Drew Marlowe said after Sellers’ performance in the title game.
Sellers said Beamer kept up with him during process when the Gamecocks were looking for a new offensive coordinator. USC eventually hired Dowell Loggains, who contacted Sellers shortly after being officially hired for the job.
Reporter Bristow Marchant contributed
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