After a humbling loss to No. 4 Ole Miss, No. 11 LSU football is officially back from the bye week and is gearing up to take on unranked South Carolina at home.
With the Gamecocks flocking to Death Valley this weekend, they’re bringing their own levels of talent and skill to the field under head coach Shane Beamer, so here are four players to watch on their side of the ball.
LaNorris Sellers
Leading South Carolina’s offense in passing yards is sophomore quarterback LaNorris Sellers, with 3,506 career yards under his arm.
Tiger fans may remember the Florence, South Carolina native from last season in LSU’s 36-33 win over South Carolina, where he threw 113 yards, rushing 88 with one interception.
As far as this season goes, Sellers has thrown 886 yards on the field, securing four touchdowns and one interception. His season high in passing yards was seen in South Carolina’s 29-20 loss to the Missouri Tigers with 302 yards thrown.
Following the Gamecocks’ most recent game and 35-13 victory against the University of Kentucky, Sellers threw 153 yards against the Wildcats.
Rahsul Faison
Keeping up with the offense is senior running back Rahsul Faison from Pottstown, Pennsylvania, rocking the field in rushing yards.
Faison is a first-year Gamecock on the field, having transferred from Utah State University. As a Utah State Aggie, Faison rushed 1,845 yards on 316 attempts and caught 33 receptions for over 151 yards.
During his time at South Carolina Faison, Faison has rushed 163 yards on 41 attempts with seven receptions for over 14 yards.
His season high in rushing and receptions was in South Carolina’s 31-7 loss against Vanderbilt, with 74 yards rushed and four receptions.
All of these numbers are to say that LSU’s defense will have to be impenetrable if they want to keep Faison at bay.
Vandrevius Jacobs
If Faison’s talents don’t set alarm bells off for Tiger fans, then those of sophomore wide receiver Vandrevius Jacobs definitely should.
Transferring from FSU in 2024, Jacobs has 564 receiving yards across 33 receptions in his career. 60 of those yards and three of those receptions came from his time as a Seminole with the rest from his time as a Gamecock, averaging 17.9 yards per reception.
Jacobs has racked up 323 receiving yards across 18 receptions this season, with his high being 128 yards and seven receptions during South Carolina’s loss to Missouri.
If LSU can’t get between Jacobs and Sellers, then this offensive pair has a shot of clawing their way to the top of the game.
Fred Johnson
Let’s move onto South Carolina’s defense, with sophomore linebacker Fred Johnson.
Johnson has 31 career tackles, 18 of which are solo and 13 being assists. 25 of those came from this season — 15 solo and 10 assists — with one sack and one interception.
His season high in tackles was in South Carolina’s 24-11 win against Virginia Tech with 10 tackles, four of those being assists.
The lowest performance South Carolina has seen from Johnson this season was against Vanderbilt with two complete tackles.
