Heading into South Carolina's Week 3 showdown against Vanderbilt, one of the biggest questions surrounding the Gamecocks was how star quarterback LaNorris Sellers would look against the Commodores' defense.

Unfortunately, that evaluation period lasted less than a half, as, with just under two minutes to go before intermission, the future first-round pick was hit hard by an opposing defender as he was looking to dump off the ball and had to leave the game after being laid out for more than a minute on the turf.

“LaNorris Sellers had to be helped off the field after this hit,” ESPN wrote. “The defender was called for targeting and ejected from the game.”
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Now, after watching Sellers take a pretty severe hit from a defender who was eventually ejected for targeting, the quarterback was allowed to lie on the field for some time, which rubbed more than a few Gamecock fans the wrong way.

“LaNorris Sellers gets hit in the head with targeting and between the hit on the field and the decision to review the play for targeting there was a total elapsed time of 1 Minute and 39.28 Seconds,” Chris Jackson wrote.

“This time carried over into the next play from scrimmage where Luke Doty had Nyck Harbor for a huge play, probably a touchdown was 2.64 seconds. What the h*ll were you doing for the first minute and a half while our QB was laying on his face after an obvious targeting. Such bush league a** officiating.”

Widely considered one of the premier quarterbacks in the 2025 NFL Draft class, talent evaluators hoped to see Sellers continue to progress in what could be his final season in South Carolina. If he ends up missing extended action, it could impact his eventual draft status, not to mention SC's chances of making waves in the SEC.