<\/p>\n
LSU linebacker Whit Weeks (40) pressures South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers (16) in the first half between the Tigers and Gamecocks, Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025, at Tiger Stadium.<\/p>\n
STAFF FILE PHOTO BY HILARY SCHEINUK<\/p>\n
Sports columnist Scott Rabalais with his three takes from Day 2 of SEC media days in Tampa, Florida:<\/p>\n
1. ANCHOR UP?<\/p>\n
Rarely have the words \u201cVanderbilt football\u201d and \u201cheightened expectations\u201d been fused together in the same sentence. But the Commodores face that new reality in 2026 after going 10-3, making back-to-back bowls for just the second time and nearly reaching the CFP. Now coach Clark Lea must build another winner without sparkplug quarterback Diego Pavia. \u201cThis group has inherited something that previous teams did not,\u201d Lea said. \u201cA Vanderbilt football program that expects to win.\u201d Can it is the question.<\/p>\n
2. CAN SELLERS DELIVER?<\/p>\n
A year ago, South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers was the coaches\u2019 preseason second-team All-SEC choice behind Garrett Nussmeier of LSU. Neither was able to live up to those expectations. Now Nussmeier is with the Kansas City Chiefs, but Sellers is back, a third-year starter and the most talented quarterback in the league that hardly anyone is talking about. Receiver Nyck Harbor believes they should. \u201cHe\u2019s become that voice that everybody needed and everybody wants to hear,\u201d he said. \u201cHe commands practices now.\u201d<\/p>\n
3. STILL KICKING<\/p>\n
Alex McPherson of Auburn is the only kicker at SEC media days. There are two reasons for that: his talent (87% on field goals in 2025, 100% on extra points) and his story. McPherson was diagnosed in 2024 with ulcerative colitis, dropped to 110 pounds and underwent extensive surgery. He\u2019s back up to 165 pounds now, still kicking despite having to wear a colostomy bag and telling reporters he booted a couple of 60-yarders before coming to Tampa. Remarkable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LSU linebacker Whit Weeks (40) pressures South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers (16) in the first half between the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[8434,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-347794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-hardwall","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}