Shane Beamer responds to fans who want LaNorris Sellers benched
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Shane Beamer had a message for South Carolina fans who have been calling for LaNorris Sellers to be benched on Saturday night when the Gamecocks head to Tuscaloosa to face No. 8 Alabama.
Back off a bit, because total knowledge of the situation exists within the building and not outside of it.
With redshirt freshman Cutter Woods waiting in the wings as a possible replacement for the struggling Sellers, Beamer spoke to reporters on Tuesday about the messy situation that has developed in Columbia going into Week 4. Sellers had a not-so-good Week 3, throwing for 282 yards and 2 touchdowns but also tossing 2 interceptions in a discouraging home loss to Mississippi State.
It was a golden opportunity for South Carolina to get to 3-0 and win its SEC opener, but it didn’t work out, and now suddenly things could unravel a bit as the Gamecocks face a tall order in trying to stem the Tide in primetime (7 p.m. ET, ESPN). Sellers has already thrown 3 interceptions so far this season against 5 touchdown passes, and his QBR sits at a dismal 50.5, ranking 89th in college football.
That takes us to Beamer and that burning question about the quarterback position that he tried to answer on Tuesday.
“I see what I see in practice every week, and people on the outside of this building don’t get to decide that,” Shane Beamer said. “We win as a team, we lose as a team. Are there some throws that LaNorris would like to have back or throws that he would like to make? Yeah, absolutely. As I told LaNorris, when you lose a football game, the 2 people that get the most blame are the head coach and the quarterback. It’s no different this week, and (we’ll) worry about what we can control. LaNorris needs to be better. I need to be better. Our entire team needs to be better.”
Beamer went on to talk about how the quarterbacks are always in competition with each other, but he stopped short of saying anything about a change behind center on Saturday night.
Regardless of the quarterback situation, South Carolina is in desperate need of a bounce-back victory this Saturday night in Tuscaloosa. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about the Gamecocks’ chances to pull the upset against the Crimson Tide:
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Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
