South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers Emerges as Early QB1 Favorite for Next NFL Draft

The race to be the first quarterback selected in the upcoming NFL Draft is already heating up, and a new poll from ESPN’s Pete Thamel highlights just how wide open the conversation is.

Thamel surveyed 25 NFL scouts and executives, asking them to project who will ultimately emerge as the top quarterback in the class. The responses revealed both excitement and uncertainty across the league, with seven different signal-callers receiving at least one vote.

Leading the pack was South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers, who earned eight votes, edging out LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier (seven). Sellers’ combination of size, arm talent, and dual-threat ability has scouts intrigued about his ceiling as a franchise quarterback.

Behind the two frontrunners was a group of contenders, each drawing support from multiple evaluators. Miami’s Carson Beck and Oklahoma’s John Mateer received three votes apiece, while Penn State’s Drew Allar earned two. Arizona State’s Sam Leavitt and Texas star Arch Manning rounded out the list with one vote each.

The spread of votes underscores how fluid the quarterback landscape remains, with no clear consensus QB1 emerging just yet. Still, Sellers’ showing suggests that momentum is building around the Gamecocks’ rising star as the 2026 draft cycle begins to take shape.

If Sellers can build on his breakout campaign in Columbia, he could position himself as South Carolina’s first quarterback ever to be selected No. 1 overall.