ORLANDO, Fla. — Illinois defensive back Miles Scott couldn’t believe his eyes. Like everyone else, he saw what LaNorris Sellers did against Clemson and had to admire it.
"I saw one play against Clemson where it was like a cartoon," Scott said. "Four dudes were on top of him and he just escaped out of it and ran for like 30 yards after. So he's definitely a problem, and I feel like a lot of the quarterbacks that we've seen are talented for sure, but I think LaNorris Sellers is in a different category."
Now it’s his job to try to slow down Sellers and the Gamecocks when Illinois takes on South Carolina in the Citrus Bowl on Dec. 31, a game featuring two premier quarterbacks.
Sellers finished the regular season with 2,929 yards of total offense and 24 touchdowns between the rushing and passing game, but the numbers other than simply his statistics really jump out to opponents. Specifically his size, just how difficult he is to corral, slow down and eventually tackle.
"The reason why he's a little bit different is because he is 6'3" and I think he's 230, 225," Illinois defensive coordinator Aaron Henry said. "He's just a bigger target. He has a live arm."
The flip side of this game has another quarterback with SEC experience, too.
Illinois starter Luke Altmyer comes from an SEC family — the Starkville, Miss. native’s father was Mississippi State football’s team orthopedic surgeon — and spent two seasons at Ole Miss before transferring to Illinois.
He saw limited action in Oxford, but has thrived since joining the Fighting Illini. Even compared to last season, he has chopped his interception total in half from 10 to five, increased his passing touchdown mark from 13 to 21 and thrown for nearly 700 more yards.
Like Sellers, he is a threat to take off and run. Altmyer has four rushing scores this season and an average of eight carries per game. And just like his counterpart on the opposing sideline, he played some of his best football of the season down the stretch with eight total touchdowns and just two interceptions in November.
"He's a good player," South Carolina defensive coordinator Clayton White said. "He could play in any conference, any team in America, but he's definitely one of those quarterbacks I didn't really know about until we were playing him, but I definitely know who he is now for sure."
High level quarterback battles are never a sure thing in bowl games anymore between opt-outs and transfer portal timing.
But in a match-up between two teams both trying to put an exclamation point on historic seasons by grabbing a 10th win, both led by dual threat signal-callers with all the momentum of a strong regular season behind them, the Citrus Bowl delivers one.
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