With one until the start of the 2025 NFL season, it meant that college football took center stage on Sunday, Aug. 31, with two high-profile matchups. The first matchup featured the Virginia Tech Hokies taking on the No. 13 South Carolina Gamecocks in a game played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA. While both teams struggled offensively for much of the first three quarters, South Carolina took a 10-8 lead into the fourth quarter.
After Virginia Tech made a field goal to cut it to a one-possession game with nine minutes remaining, less than a minute and a half later, LaNorris Sellers struck. The Gamecocks quarterback hit wide receiver Nyck Harbor in stride for a perfect 64-yard touchdown to stretch the lead back to double-digits.
As impressive as Sellers’ performance was on Sunday, it was what he did after the game that drew high praise.
LaNorris Sellers Gives Game Ball to Legendary Virginia Tech Coach Frank Beamer
Among those in attendance for the two teams’ opening game of the 2025 college football season was Virginia Tech’s longtime coach Frank Beamer. The man who created “Beamerball,” which highlighted his teams’ ability to make big plays, spent his entire head coaching career at Virginia Tech, leading the team for 29 years from 1987 to 2015.
The Beamer-led Hokies were ranked in the top-25 at one point during every season from 1993 through 2014, and he led the school to a postseason bowl game for 23 consecutive years.
The respect for Beamer is widely known across the college football landscape, and South Carolina’s 20-year-old quarterback made sure to give his own unique tip of the cap to the legendary Hokies coach on Sunday. After the game, Sellers found Beamer, shook his hand, and, in a classy moment, gave him the game ball.
LaNorris Sellers gave the game ball to Frank Beamer 🥹 pic.twitter.com/MYLhKI3ehQ
— ESPN (@espn) August 31, 2025
It was an impressive show of respect from Sellers, who earned the game ball after throwing for 209 yards on 12-of-19 attempts and one touchdown. The sophomore also tacked on 25 rushing yards and an additional score on the ground.
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