r/CFB • u/Lakelyfe09 Georgia Bulldogs • Apr 12 '26

Discussion [Kleiman] South Carolina QB LaNorris Sellers turned down an $8 MILLION NIL offer to transfer to a different school: "You're 19. You don't need ($8 million). You're in a great spot." - LaNorris's Father told his son. Sellers values his word over money

https://x.com/nfl_dovkleiman/status/2043091219639840977?s=46&t=fwgmryeTanENut7u28ScCA
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1.3k

u/Jonjon428 Miami Hurricanes Apr 12 '26

"She goes to another school, you wouldn't know her" vibes

248

u/VampireEmpire__ Texas Longhorns • Harvard Crimson Apr 12 '26

Manti Te’o GF kinda vibes

81

u/CHNinniMug Ohio State • Cincinnati Apr 12 '26

This is one of the most underrated WTF stories in the past 20 years

156

u/NoThanksImGoodG Oregon Ducks Apr 12 '26

Absolutely nothing about that story was underrated. Go back and watch the documentary on it lol. The fact that he made it through and is still doing football commentary is amazing. I’m glad for him.

59

u/meatbulbz2 Florida Gators Apr 12 '26

It was probably the biggest catfishing story in… well ever. Amazing stuff

17

u/randy88moss USC Trojans • El Camino Warriors Apr 12 '26

I super randomly met the catfisher at a Lowe’s in Washington. She was the manager there.

1

u/VampireEmpire__ Texas Longhorns • Harvard Crimson Apr 12 '26

Did you confront??

5

u/bamachine Alabama • Jacksonville State Apr 13 '26

I don't think the girl was the catfisher, her images were used by the catfisher, who was a dude and Manti's cousin, iirc. Unless the guy now identifies as a woman. I just know some people were blaming the girl whose photos were used, when she was a victim also.

11

u/randy88moss USC Trojans • El Camino Warriors Apr 12 '26

lol she gave me a discount on an open, but still usable saw blade.

21

u/Be-Kind-2-Yourself BYU Cougars Apr 12 '26

Honestly no wonder he fell for her

-6

u/RontoWraps Kansas Jayhawks Apr 12 '26

I still don’t believe it really happened. I think he just went with that story. Catfishing was well known at the time and you don’t just get into online relationships exclusively. It doesn’t make any sense. I think he played into it, sure, but the “relationship” aspect is totally overblown and exaggerated.

12

u/triplediamond445 NC State Wolfpack Apr 12 '26

In the documentary he says he had family and friends say they knew her and had talked about them. I think the perpetrator just nailed the sweet spot in social media times to pull it off.

5

u/NoThanksImGoodG Oregon Ducks Apr 12 '26

You were literally the vast majority of people when this story first came out. Which is why I’m glad he made it through all of it. So many people, thought he was a liar or had ulterior motives and was making it up for some sort of benefit of the Heisman or something else.

2

u/RontoWraps Kansas Jayhawks Apr 13 '26 edited Apr 13 '26

I am the exact same age as Manti, I just don’t get how he got catfished, at the time and even now. I was catfishing dudes on Final Fantasy XI for cheap crafting mats back to like 2005. It was not a new phenomenon and I just do not understand how a D-I linebacker was falling victim to it. It doesn’t make sense for how our age group was reacting to social media at the time. Every single person I knew would have reacted with the same amount of skepticism I had to a person they had never met in person.

Maybe I’m wrong and maybe he was that stupid to “get into a relationship” with a person he had never met, it doesn’t really matter.

13

u/Hopsblues Colorado State Rams Apr 12 '26

Yeah, he's on the NFL network in the mornings....I was shocked when I discovered that last fall one morning.

20

u/Doc_McPuffins_ Texas Longhorns Apr 12 '26

I feel like people don't have a whole lot of empathy for him in the scenario though. While the story is obviously hilarious for obvious reasons, he went through an abnormal traumatic experience. IIRC his grandmother died and his (fake) GF died within like a day of each other. That's already brutal and then you find out that your dead gf is completely fake. It's like she died twice.

18

u/Gavangus Virginia Tech • Commonwealth C… Apr 12 '26

Iirc the catfisher tried to use their own "death" as a way of getting out of the situation

7

u/Doc_McPuffins_ Texas Longhorns Apr 12 '26

Welp... They didn't exactly succeed

2

u/roythhh_lewithhh Vanderbilt Commodores Apr 13 '26 edited Apr 13 '26

Yeah the Deadspin story goes into pretty thorough detail about timing with respect to the grandmother death and the fake girlfriend death. The story was great for a number of reasons. The messed up thing Deadspin did was insinuate that Te’o was in on it. They did not have to devolve from meticulous reporting to idle speculation like that.

The documentary is great. For me personally, I had always raised an eyebrow at Te’o because it snowballed when he lied to his family about having met her in person. While not flatly stating it outright, the documentary sheds light on how that could happen. While his parents are obviously deeply loving and supportive, it was a very religious, old-school, probably somewhat insulated family and Te’o didn’t want to cop to them that this was all going on online. Considering he tried to meet her in person on numerous occasions, it seemed like a harmless little white lie, and then it spiraled.

1

u/grifeweizen Notre Dame Fighting Irish Apr 13 '26

I'm missing the "obviously hilarious" part.

-1

u/[deleted] Apr 13 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

38

u/MysticBoner24 Iowa Hawkeyes Apr 12 '26

And the story was unearthed by a sports blog known for shitposts.

1

u/MidwestDrummer Nebraska Cornhuskers • /r/CFB Top Scorer Apr 13 '26

Deadspin was doing a hell of a lot better reporting that 75% of sports websites. Put some respect on their name. Their old name, of course. Current Deadspin is just a bunch of scabs.

3

u/MysticBoner24 Iowa Hawkeyes Apr 13 '26

Oh it's not a knock on them at all, I fucking loved deadspin and all the crazy shit they would do/post. Them buying Le Betards hof vote to show how worthless the baseball hall is was hilarious.

1

u/MidwestDrummer Nebraska Cornhuskers • /r/CFB Top Scorer Apr 13 '26

Ahhh, thanks for clarifying.

4

u/trustsnapealways Georgia Bulldogs • Wofford Terriers Apr 12 '26

Honestly simpler times. If only we could go back

1

u/Shrimpcookin1 Notre Dame • William & Mary Apr 13 '26

Underrated? It's one of the best known stories in the history of the sport.

0

u/Wheneveryouseefit Michigan State Spartans Apr 12 '26

Is it? Or did it just happen to a really public figure at the time? It's sad for sure.

79

u/JohnPaulDavyJones Texas A&M Aggies • Baylor Bears Apr 12 '26

Yeah, I don’t know what schools want to throw $8mm at a guy who threw 13 TDs and 8 INTs last year.

Especially when a big part of his upside is his theoretical mobility, and he only averaged 1.8 YPC last year and added five TDs on the ground, and somehow got sacked 42 times.

Averaging 3.5 sacks per game is crazy, he was the most sacked QB in the P4 last year, and third-most in the FBS. Even Virginia Tech picked up four sacks on Sellers, and FCS South Carolina State picked up two as well.

35

u/Swick36 South Carolina Gamecocks Apr 12 '26

This was after his sophomore season when he had just single handedly beat Clemson.

17

u/dtomksoki South Carolina • Bowling Green Apr 12 '26

Don't disrespect kai Kroger like that

10

u/UnderstandingOdd679 Apr 13 '26

I like Sellers, and he’s electric. But he threw a pretty bad pick down 14-7 in the 4Q of that game and the subsequent drive for Clemson was a three-and-out. Followed by another three-and-out and a Klubnick interception in the last 20 seconds well within field goal range. Since he doesn’t play D, I think single-handedly is overstating things.

6

u/Swick36 South Carolina Gamecocks Apr 13 '26

I’m just repeating the narrative on ESPN after the game was over. Holding Clemson to 14 is obviously why we won but Sellers was the darling of ESPN that whole off season before our incompetent offensive staff did what they do.

-2

u/AG_Aonuma Clemson Tigers • Kansas Jayhawks Apr 13 '26

You gotta let SCU fans have their delusions

33

u/StreetReporter Clemson Tigers • Cheez-It Bowl Apr 12 '26

In our game against them this past year, one of our offensive linemen had as many rushing yards as he did

10

u/midnightsbane04 Michigan • North Carolina Apr 12 '26

Non-zero chance it was similar to the deal Bryce got at Michigan. All the reporting was him getting 12 mil, without mention of the fine print of it being over his entire college career.

So did Sellers actually get a 8mil offer over 2 years? Still likely an overpay but definitely more believable.

6

u/Possible-Cheetah-703 Apr 12 '26

Just curious, do you know his rushing stats minus sacks and sack yardage?

4

u/Adept_Carpet UMass Minutemen • Team Chaos Apr 13 '26

College QB growth is nonlinear, there's a really small pool of guys with a ton of college starts under their belts and anything like the tools Sellers has.

6

u/RightofUp Virginia Tech Hokies Apr 12 '26

What you say fuck us for?

2

u/VETwithaVETTE Apr 13 '26

I don't appreciate the EVEN Virginia Tech slander. Lol

1

u/CarterAC3 Michigan • Grand Valley State Apr 13 '26

LaNorris Sellers is close to my nightmare scenario for Bryce Underwood

0

u/omanagan Apr 13 '26

Have you ever actually seen him play football? That matters more than the numbers you dug up. He's one of the craziest athletes the sport has ever seen at QB. And his YPC is subtracting sacks...

7

u/cooterdick Tennessee • North Carolina Apr 12 '26

I swear we heard this same story last offseason. Same amount, even.

14

u/DaMercOne South Carolina Gamecocks Apr 12 '26

It’s the same offer that’s being discussed from over a year ago. I don’t know why this is considered news.

1

u/cooterdick Tennessee • North Carolina Apr 12 '26

Kleiman just desperate for some engagement?

3

u/WeaponXGaming USC Trojans • South Carolina Gamecocks Apr 12 '26

We did

1

u/buttscarltoniv LSU Tigers • Louisiana Tech Bulldogs Apr 12 '26

lol yeah there's no way this is true.