COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina coach Shane Beamer got a text recently from an SEC rival coach impressed with freshman quarterback LaNorris Sellers.
“You’ve got ‘Superman’ back there,” the message read, Beamer said.
Sellers may not be the “Man of Steel,” but he’s certainly making a major impact for No. 21 (CFP) South Carolina. And he showed that again on Saturday night with his career-best showing in a 34-30 victory over No. 23 Missouri. Sellers, a redshirt freshman who took over the starting job from NFL rookie Spencer Rattler, threw for 353 yards and five touchdown passes, the last an inside throw that Raheim Sanders took 15 yards to the end zone with 15 seconds to go as they twice rallied from behind in the fourth quarter.
One play in particular floored Gamecocks defensive tackle Alex Huntley where Sellers twisted out of a sack on the next-to-last scoring drive before hitting tight end Brady Hunt for 11 yards on thrid-and-10. “Did he get sacked?” Huntley recalled saying.
“The second he got out of it, I knew something good was going to happen,” he said.
Sellers has done that more and more the past month after the Gamecocks stood 3-3 after a loss at Alabama on Oct. 12. He’s led the way as South Carolina collected wins against Oklahoma (35-9) and ranked teams in Texas A&M (44-20) and Vanderbilt (28-7).
“It’s about staying calm, not budging, not flinching,” said Sellers. “Taking one play at a not and not worrying about the outcome.”
That steady approach pulled out a game South Carolina would typically lose.
Twice Missouri took a lead in the final period and twice the Sellers and the Gamecocks answered back with success.
The Gamecocks (7-3, 5-3) have won four straight Southeastern Conference games for the first time since Steve Spurrier was coach in 2012. But it’s now one of Spurrier’s hires with the Gamecocks in Beamer who has South Carolina as the hottest team in the powerhouse conference.
The Tigers (7-3, 3-3) final lead came after Brady Cook’s 37-yard TD pass to Luther Burden III with 1:10 to go for a 30-27 lead.
Sellers, though, wasn’t done. He hit on passes of 10 and 39 yards to bring the Gamecocks to the Missouri 21. After Sellers’ 7 yard run, he flipped the ball to Sanders who bulled his way across the goal line to send the Williams-Brice Stadium crowd into a frenzy.
“We were scoring,” said Sanders, nicknamed “Rocket,” an Arkansas transfer who’s had six of his 11 rushing TDs in the four-game win streak.