COLUMBIA, S.C. — LaNorris Sellers threw three touchdown passes as South Carolina beat Kent State 57-0 on Saturday in the season-opener for each team at Williams-Brice Stadium.
Sellers, beginning his third season as starting quarterback under a third offensive coordinator, showed no hesitation in running the system installed by Kendal Briles. He looked smooth and confident in an attack that piled up 645 yards of total offense and had six different players score TDs.
The Gamecocks’ quarterback finished the afternoon 19-for-23 for 270 yards. He did not throw an interception and was sacked just once.
Donovan Murph caught two touchdowns, while Jabree Coleman rushed for two more for South Carolina. Mazeo Bennett, Mike Tyler, Matt Fuller and Isaiah Augustave also scored one TD each.
Dru DeShields passed for 63 yards and rushed for 27 to lead Kent State. At one point in the game, the Gamecocks scored TDs on eight consecutive drives.
Carolina was 7-for-8 on third down.
Fuller started the scoring in the first quarter with a 7-yard jaunt into the end zone, after receiver Nyck Harbor was ruled to have stepped out of bounds on a TD pass from Sellers. The Gamecocks scored three more touchdowns in the second quarter, highlighted by a 60-yard sprint from Coleman, a transfer from Penn State.
The Gamecocks pitched their first shutout since a 46-0 win against Eastern Illinois in 2021, which was Shane Beamer’s first game as head coach. The defense allowed just 179 total yards, including 79 passing yards.
Kent State quarterback Dru DeShields completed just 12 of 20 passes for 63 yards, with a long of 12 yards. The longest completion for the Golden Flashes was 16 yards, which matched the longest run as well.
Up Next
South Carolina hosts Towson at 7 p.m., next Saturday.
–story and photo courtesy of South Carolina Athletics
