Dabo Swinney Details Clemson's Plan to Contain Gamecocks' Dual-Threat QB

As the Clemson Tigers prepare for the annual Palmetto Bowl against the South Carolina Gamecocks, unsurprisingly, one opposing player has been a hot topic of conversation: LaNorris Sellers.

This past Tuesday, head coach Dabo Swinney spoke to the media and emphasized the importance of stopping the Gamecocks' quarterback, particularly in light of last season's performance.

"All you have to do is watch the tape," Swinney began. "We had him tackled about 50 times. I don't know how many missed tackles we had, but it was unbelievable. It was crazy. They [Clemson players] all know what they're dealing with. The good thing is that at least they have that in their head. He's hard to get down; he's strong. You have to do a great job of staying in front of him and trying to keep him in the pocket. You have to get 11 guys to the ball, and when someone gets to it, you have to find a way to wrap up and hold on because he's strong and can break tackles. That was the difference in the game last year. So the players here have some experience with that because everybody's back besides Barrett [Carter], Stephiylan [Green] and [RJ] Mickens."

As Swinney said, when you look at the tape — and especially the numbers — it tells a story about how strong a runner Sellers is out of the backfield.

In last year's outing, the 240-pound signal caller carried the ball 16 times for 166 yards and two touchdowns — including the game-winning rushing touchdown. He had season highs in missed tackles forced after a rush (15), scramble yards (114) and first downs (8).

Similar to Clemson's Cade Klubnik, Sellers entered the 2025 season as a Heisman candidate and a projected top-five draft pick; however, the season hasn't turned out exactly as hoped.

All of his numbers are down across the board from 2024, completing just under 62% of his passes for 2,056 yards, 11 touchdowns and six interceptions. He's taken a step back on the ground as well, carrying the ball 137 times for only 268 yards and five touchdowns. While this may have been due to the now-fired South Carolina offensive coordinator Mike Shula, it's still something to keep in the back of your head.

Regardless of the statistics, though, Swinney still values Sellers as a special player who's going to be a problem for the Tigers this weekend, no matter what.

"He's a great player to me," Swinney said. "I think he's special. He's as good a player as he's ever been; he's a problem. That's my opinion."

Clemson has used live backup quarterbacks before to prepare for certain matchups, but it's been a while since the Tigers have had a scout-team weapon like true freshman Chris Denson, who piled up 128 yards and two touchdowns last week against Furman, including 106 on the ground.

Due to his explosiveness as a runner, he's been able to help the defense get ready for a player like Sellers all year. However, he unfortunately suffered a foot injury this past week while doing so.

"Yeah, he does [help]," Swinney continued. "He definitely helps. Unfortunately, he got his foot stepped on yesterday on the scout team, so he wasn't able to finish. But he was over there wearing number 16 for them. I don't really know how bad the [injury] is; I just know he wasn't able to finish practice yesterday. But [Denson] is just different. Sellers is bigger, but they're both explosive; those are the similarities."

Another crucial factor heading into this contest will be how well linebacker Sammy Brown plays as a QB spy for Sellers, as he did the same last year. While he had a solid performance, recording nine tackles, 1.5 for a loss and one sack in the contest, there's obviously still room for improvement.

But that responsibility doesn't fall solely on Brown, though. Swinney made it clear that containing Sellers requires all 11 defenders to move in sync.

"He's just got to be able to get his job done. And not just him, everybody's got to spy [Sellers]," Swinney emphasized. "You can't over-rush him. You can't lose your leverage on him because if you lose it, you're not catching him. There are very few people who are going to be able to go and get him down without him getting a big gain. When you do spy him, you have to stay in phase with him. You can't get caught up in the fray. You have to make sure you have some separation so that you can react to him, and again, not get out-leveraged. It doesn't matter who you are; there are very few guys who can catch him if he gets leverage on you. Again, it's not just [Sammy], it's your defensive tackles not burying their heads, knowing where he is, getting off blocks, eyes on him because he's slippery. He's just a really good player."

Swinney continued his praise for Sellers and mentioned another Gamecock who could give the Clemson secondary some problems, wide receiver Nyck Harbor. The 6-foot-5, 235-pound speedster has been frying SEC defenses the past three contests, totaling seven receptions for 225 yards and three touchdowns in the short span.

Put together, Sellers' arm and Harbor's track-star burst create a downfield threat that forces Clemson to stay disciplined on every snap.

"He doesn't get enough credit, I mean, this guy can push the ball down the field, man," Swinney stated. "He can rip it. Some of these throws are a long way, and that No. 8 [Nyck Harbor] will run right out of the stadium. It's unbelievable how fast that guy is, and you saw it against Texas A&M when he just left everybody… We just have to let [Sellers] not get comfortable. You have to do everything you can to change the looks up and win matchups."