The quarterbacks showed some promise, and lit up the night early.

There were not a ton of offensive fireworks in South Carolina’s annual spring football game, a 17-0 win for the Garnet over Black, but both offenses were strong with the top units out there.

LaNorris Sellers opened up the game by leading an efficient touchdown drive down the field, completing two third down passes and scrambling for two more first downs. He ended the drive 4-of-4 passing for 38 yards with 27 yards on his scrambles, capping it off with a 13-yard touchdown run when he stepped up in the pocket through pressure and found the corner of the end zone.

Robby Ashford took over and started a similarly impressive drive, making some plays with his legs of his own and leading the Black offense down into the red zone towards the end of the first quarter. His team’s drive stalled out thanks to back-to-back sacks by Bryan Thomas Jr. and Gilber Edmond, though, and Alex Herrera missed a 55-yard field goal to turn the drive into points.

Both quarterbacks expected to compete for the starting job played the entirety of the 24-minute first half. Sellers was 9-of-11 passing with 70 yards and 38 rushing yards, and he led another scoring drive just before halftime to tack on a field goal.

Defensively Dylan Stewart was as advertised, constantly wreaking havoc in his first performance at Williams-Brice Stadium. He had a tackle for loss on a second quarter screen play, picked up a sack in the third quarter and stuffed another run in the backfield. Thomas Jr. was maybe the standout of the night, though, with 2.5 sacks though and game-wrecking explosion off the edge.

Redshirt freshman defensive back Vicari Swain popped up with the first takeaway of the night. When true freshman quarterback Dante Reno rolled outside the pocket on a fourth-and-1 early in the fourth quarter and tried to squeeze a pass in to tight end Nick Elksnis, Swain quickly leapt up and shut the down with an acrobatic interception. Walk-on true freshman Isaiah McClary added another interception with 2:44 remaining when he picked off a lofted Davis Beville attempt.

Reno responded well from his turnover, though. He capped off the next drive with a touchdown pass, a nice rollout to his left to hit tight end Maurice Brown II for a 15-yard score in the same corner where Sellers scored earlier.

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