South Carolina and Clemson both have quarterbacks sitting in the lower half of ESPN’s latest national rankings, even though each player has already had a hand in shaping his team’s season.
ESPN’s Bill Connelly released his second quarterback rankings for the 68 Power 4 quarterbacks this week, and South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers landed at No. 49 while Clemson’s Tait Reynolds came in at No. 66. Miami’s Darian Mensah is No. 1 after opening at No. 11 in the spring.
The top of the list is loaded with SEC passers. Four league quarterbacks cracked the top 10, including two South Carolina has already seen: Mississippi State’s Kamario Taylor at No. 5 and Alabama’s Keelon Russell at No.
- Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss sits at No. 4, and Georgia’s Gunner Stockton is No.
Sellers entered the year much higher in Connelly’s spring rankings, checking in at No. 25, but his first four games have been uneven. ESPN’s QBR has him at 59.1, a scale from 0-100 that measures quarterback play on a snap-by-snap basis and adjusts for the strength of the defenses faced.
The numbers tell the story of a season that has flashed but not settled down: 833 passing yards, 272 rushing yards and seven total touchdowns. The last two weeks against Mississippi State and Alabama, though, have been rough.
“This was supposed to be South Carolina’s redemption year, and Sellers started out promisingly, taking what he was given and keeping the sack totals low,” Connelly wrote. “But in losses to Mississippi State and Alabama, he threw three interceptions, took four sacks and averaged just 6.2 yards per dropback. He might as well go back to hunting big plays, damn the consequences, because this approach has little upside.”
USC coach Shane Beamer was asked Tuesday whether backup Cutter Woods was getting first-team reps in practice this week, which could hint at a bigger role against Kentucky. Beamer didn’t give a direct answer, but he made clear that practice competition is constant.
“Every position is accountable,” Beamer said. “Every week in practice there is competition that’s ongoing at our place, no matter the position.”
At Clemson, Reynolds’ rise has come fast. The freshman took over after Christopher Vizzina was injured against Georgia Southern and has started the past two weeks, helping Clemson beat North Carolina and California. That makes him the earliest freshman quarterback to start a game for the Tigers in 51 years.
Reynolds has a 29.8 QBR, along with 523 passing yards, 135 rushing yards and one touchdown on the ground. Clemson hosts Miami this week.
“Reynolds led a late rally against North Carolina that, for all we know, saved the Dabo Swinney era,” Connelly wrote. “He also improved late in the game against Cal. But the freshman is averaging just 9.9 yards per completion and 5.3 yards per dropback with loads of sacks, and he has to face Miami’s and Virginia Tech’s top-30 defenses in October.”
In Other News...
South Carolina Faces Real Pressure As Kentucky Brings A Bigger Concern
South Carolina gets Kentucky at Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday afternoon with a little more urgency than the records alone might suggest. The Gamecocks are 2-2 and still looking for their first SEC win, while Kentucky arrives at 3-1 and already has a conference victory, setting up a matchup that feels bigger than a standard early-October league game. The 4:15 p.m. kickoff on SEC Network comes with the usual game-week backdrop of injury updates, betting lines and weather watching, but the broader pressure is simple enough: South Carolina needs to steady itself in the league race.
Kentucky brings a different kind of concern into Columbia, because this is the sort of opponent that can make a team pay if it is still sorting through its own issues. The odds list South Carolina as a slight favorite, which tells you oddsmakers still see a path for the Gamecocks at home, but the margin is thin enough to leave plenty of room for anxiety. With conference play already off to a shaky start, the interest is not just in whether South Carolina can win, but in whether this is the game where it begins to look more like the team it expected to be. [Read more 🡒]
Florida State Has A Growing QB Concern At The Worst Time
The quarterback picture across the conference has become harder to ignore, and it only gets sharper for South Carolina when LaNorris Sellers is part of the conversation. The Gamecocks have leaned on his talent and development all season, and as other teams sort through their own quarterback issues, Sellers remains one of the more important young passers to track heading into the stretch run.
Jayden Maiava, Marcel Reed and Ashton Daniels are all dealing with their own pressure points as their teams look for steadier play, but South Carolinas interest in the group goes beyond casual scoreboard watching. The Gamecocks are trying to keep their own momentum going while the leagues quarterback ranks shift around them, and the next round of games will tell a lot about which of these passers can clean things up before the stakes get even higher. [Read more 🡒]
South Carolinas Emerging Back Could Change One Big Offensive Problem
Jabree Coleman has quietly worked his way into a meaningful role for South Carolina, giving the Gamecocks a second option at running back as the offense looks for more balance. Over four games, Coleman has piled up 147 yards and three touchdowns while averaging 8.6 yards per rush, and the early returns match the internal buzz around him. Coaches and teammates have pointed to his natural feel for the position, his intelligence and the kind of work ethic that tends to earn more opportunities.
For a South Carolina offense that has been searching for more consistency on the ground, Colemans emergence is more than a nice depth chart development. His role is expected to keep growing, particularly when the conditions line up for a run-heavy approach, and that gives the Gamecocks a potential answer to one of their bigger offensive issues. The question now is how far his workload can go as the season moves on and the staff looks for the right way to keep him involved. [Read more 🡒]