Clemson Tigers Reveal Gameplan for LaNorris Sellers Following South Carolina Win

Last season at Memorial Stadium, South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers ran for 166 yards and two touchdowns against the Clemson Tigers. He would only finish with two rushing yards after the Tigers’ Palmetto Bowl win this past weekend.

It’s been a game plan that has been in the making for over 300 days for head coach Dabo Swinney, who added new defensive coordinator Tom Allen this past offseason with the idea of preventing an effort like 2024’s Palmetto Bowl. After the game, the Clemson head coach gave Allen nothing but praise for the defensive performance.

“I just can’t say enough about coach Allen and our defensive staff and the plan that they put together,” Swinney said. “We did everything that we needed to do.”

The home loss stung for Clemson, which was immediately raised from the dead after finding out certain results granted it an ACC Championship berth for another chance to play for the College Football Playoff. Moving into this season, with many of those players returning, it was important to put those negative thoughts into practice.

That’s exactly what Swinney saw throughout the game plan.

“We got to him the whole game, we just couldn’t get him to the ground, and we’ve had to live with that,” he said. “Everybody’s had to live with that all year. So, you know, you turn pain into purpose, and these guys, they came here to do exactly what they did, and they got it done.”

Defensive ends T.J. Parker and Will Heldt were simply focused on bringing Sellers down, leading the two to both finish with tackles for a loss and sacks in the win. The team got to the Gamecock quarterback five times in the win, forcing four turnovers.

Heldt was playing in his first Palmetto Bowl and finished with 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for a loss, saying stopping Sellers was the biggest point of emphasis in this week’s game plan.

“I think that was the big point of emphasis for us at the end, was especially playing with length, understanding where he’s at, understanding where he’s at, understanding the rush lanes, just getting off blocks and making plays,” he said.

Parker, who recorded a strip sack in last season’s loss, built on it with an even stronger performance, earning himself the ACC Defensive Lineman of the Week award. He finished with a fumble recovery, 3.0 sacks and 3.0 tackles for a loss, remembering the pain he felt from the loss to fuel one of the greatest defensive performances in Palmetto Bowl history.

The junior said the team just did a better job of tackling, compared to last season.

“We just had to tackle him,” Parker said. “Last year, we couldn’t bring him down; he ran all over us. This year, we did a great job tackling him and making sure that he couldn’t get out in space where he wanted to.”

Because of how many players returned to this year’s Clemson team from last season, a loss like the 2024 Palmetto Bowl was going to linger; it was a matter of how the Tigers would channel that pain into purpose.

Swinney dubbed Sellers as “one of the best players in the country”, but said that his defensive unit had an “unbelievable effort”, believing that last year’s result helped fuel the fire for how strong the team played.

“Pain has a way of making you better,” Swinney said. “You know, and there was a lot of pain in this game last year because we led the entire game.”

Clemson will now await its bowl game destination, which it will find out this Sunday following the conference championship slate.