The decision to go pro or return to college has grown increasingly complicated in the era of NIL. Whereas once upon a time, the question was try to earn money in the NFL or play college football without earning money, now the situation is more complex. Add in a particularly thin 2026 NFL Draft class at quarterback and the conventional wisdom was that many of the top passers should hit the road for the pros.
Top College QBs and Stay-Or-GO
While Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza is considered a safe pick as a future franchise foundation atop the first round of the upcoming NFL Draft, after Mendoza, things get questionable. Alabama’s Ty Simpson has stepped into the void and is likely a second first-round QB. But many more likely first round picks instead returned to school.
Oregon’s Dante Moore was the most notable, as some thought Moore has a higher NFL upside than Mendoza. Texas’s Arch Manning seemed like an NFL lock before a shaky 2025 season, but another player who could have made the leap, but chose to return is South Carolina QB LaNorris Sellers. Sellers weight the NFL Draft, but ultimately returned to school, and recently discussed what he learned from his process of weighing the stay-or-go decision.
Sellers Shares the Scoop
“I thought about it,” Sellers admitted of the NFL to On3’s Griffin McVeigh. “After your third season, I think everybody thinks about it.”
Sellers shared a few kernels of the wisdom he received from NFL personnel, particularly in regard to areas to improve. Sellers named “seeing stuff in the pocket” and “calm[ing] my feet down a little bit” as two particular areas of focus.
Sellers’s Development
In his second season at South Carolina as a starter, Sellers struggled at times in 2025. He saw his production drop from 2,534 yards and 18 scores through the air to 2,437 yards and 13 scores in 2025, while his interceptions rose from seven to eight. As he battled injuries, Sellers also saw his rushing numbers dip from 674 yards and seven scores on the ground in 2024 to 270 yards and five scores in 2025.
The Gamecocks struggled as well in 2025 and Sellers will look to rebound with a significantly rebuilt squad around him. Given coach Shane Beamer’s 33-30 mark at South Carolina, the 2026 season could end up being deeply significant for him as well as for Sellers’s pro potential.
With the 2026 QB class now appreciably filling in ahead of the upcoming season, Sellers will have his work cut out for him. But he’ll also have the depth of some new wisdom as he looks to improve his pro stock with one more year at South Carolina.
