UVa commit Sellers is buying what he sees from the Hoos so far
The Virginia offense has given fans plenty to cheer about through the first two weeks of the college football season.
UVa has averaged 42.5 points and 550.5 total yards in their two home wins against William & Mary and Illinois. Quarterback Brennan Armstrong has led that onslaught while the Wahoos have used three other players listed as QBs—Keytaon Thompson, Ira Armstead and Jacob Rodriguez—in various roles in the offense.
Among those most excited about that dynamic offense has been LaNorris Sellers, the 6-foot-3, 215-pound quarterback from Florence (SC) South Florence who became the first member of UVa’s 2023 recruiting class this summer.
Sellers was at Scott Stadium for the season opener against W&M, watching first-hand as the Hoos threw a variety of multi-QB formations at the Tribe on their way to a 43-0 victory. He was at home in South Carolina watching a live stream on his phone as all four quarterbacks played again and Armstrong posted a career day in a 42-14 win against the Illini.
“It’s really exciting,” Sellers told CavsCorner, “to see all the different formations they do, the different combinations in the backfield and stuff. The quarterback can really do anything—throw the ball, run the ball, catch the ball—so it’s just really exciting.”
It’s the scheme that UVa has been selling to Sellers since he first heard the term ‘Thorterback’ from quarterbacks coach Jason Beck. Watching the way the Wahoos have worked multiple signal callers into the offense has reaffirmed the trust Sellers and his family put in the UVa staff. It has also shown him that there could be more than one way that he could get on the field in college.
“He just told me that quarterbacks can really do anything,” Sellers said of his conversations with Beck. “Quarterbacks are really just athletes so let’s say you’re not the starting quarterback, you could still be a starting wide receiver or a running back. Either way you can still be on the field, some way, somehow.”
Through those early conversations with Beck, Sellers also started to get a sense of the bond among the UVa coaching staff. It was one of the major factors that made Virginia attractive as he got deeper into the recruiting process.
“I knew they were a family-oriented program,” he recalled, “and then when I went up there all of the offensive coaches where there to welcome me and my family. That’s when I knew, ‘All right, I really like this place.’”
Virginia was one of the ACC schools he visited over the summer. He rattled off Clemson, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, and Virginia Tech as other schools he took trips to see. It wasn’t his intention to commit to a school so early in the process, Sellers admitted, but that plan changed after he visited Charlottesville for the first time in July.
“I was gonna wait until after my junior season, but UVa is only taking one quarterback per class,” said Sellers, who announced his commitment on July 24th. “I didn’t want to wait and then end up losing my spot at a school where it had everything I was looking for in the school.”
It was during that July visit that the Palmetto State native met UVa offensive coordinator Robert Anae for the first time. He connected with Anae again while in town for the W&M game, as they discussed the quarterback’s potential fit in the offense. Sellers also had a similar conversation with head coach Bronco Mendenhall.
“I talked to him after the game too,” Sellers recounted. “He was just like, ‘I’m really excited for you. I’m really excited for us as a team.’ And just telling me I could fit in the offense perfectly.”
That W&M game was the first time Sellers had watched the team play in Scott Stadium. He says he “loved it a lot,” praising everything from the way the Wahoos took the field to open the game to the energy of the student section throughout the night. He plans to get back to Charlottesville for another game this season, and also hopes to make the trip to Chapel Hill this weekend to watch UVa visit the Tar Heels.
At South Florence, Sellers and the Bruins have outscored their opponents 177-35 en route to the program’s first 3-0 start in almost a decade. The three-star dual-threat QB has thrown for nine touchdowns and run for four more. He put up five touchdown passes in his most recent game on September 3rd.
Ranked as the No. 5 prospect in South Carolina in the class of 2023, Sellers says several schools are trying to pry him away from his UVa commitment. Coastal Carolina, Liberty, Clemson, Vanderbilt, Cincinnati, Louisville, Virginia Tech and East Carolina are among the schools he still hears from regularly. But he gave no indication of wavering from the decision he made this past summer.
“I’m just keeping it slow,” Sellers said, “because I committed to Virginia for a reason.”
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