We have seen it before and we might be seeing it again... Cam Newton is a year older than me and wreaked havoc all over the SEC during his magical 2010 Heisman Trophy-winning season at Auburn. Saying that South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers is the next Newton may be a tad reaching, but he is the closest approximation I have seen to him in my 18 years as a college football fanatic.
Needless to say, I am extremely high on South Carolina heading into this season. It would not shock you that I have the Gamecocks as one of 12 teams to make the College Football Playoff. They may be closer to a No. 10 seed than a No. 3 seed, around where I would pencil in arch rival Clemson, but do not kid yourself. Sellers is the far better quarterback over what the Tigers have with Cade Klubnik.
While I think we should all appreciate the exercise Blake Brockermeyer put forth for CBS Sports to rank the 150 best players in college football, Sellers is the second best player in the sport to only Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith. Klubnik should be in the top 10, but him sitting at No. 2 does not make any sense. We all saw how The Palmetto Bowl shook out in Death Valley last season.
So yes, South Carolina fans should be rooster-crowing mad that Sellers is ranked behind Klubnik!
LaNorris Sellers is the better college football player of Cade Klubnik
Although I will agree that Klubnik may end up having the better NFL career because his skill set may translate to the league better than Sellers', I remember seeing Klubnik struggle vs. high-quality competition throughout his entire Clemson tenure. Three of the Tigers' biggest games last season vs. regional rival Georgia, home vs. South Carolina and at Texas in the playoff were all losses for the team.
Against middling ACC competition, and SMU, Klubnik shined! I will say he is getting exponentially better under offensive coordinator Garrett Riley the last two years. Conversely, nobody saw this coming out of Sellers. The Ole Miss loss was bad, but the Clemson and Texas A&M wins were stellar. Sellers nearly guided South Carolina to wins over LSU and Alabama they had no business being in.
Regardless, even if I feel strongly that Sellers is the better player over Klubnik, we have all of next season to either prove me wrong or prove me right. I will say though, that I am so incredibly bullishon both of these teams. I may have South Carolina in the playoff mix, but I also have Clemson as one of my four playoff locks right now. It would not shock me if Dabo Swinney's team played in the title bout.
Overall, Sellers' talent will have to shine brighter than Klubnik's to potentially make it into the playoff.