COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers’ status for next week’s game at Missouri remains uncertain after the Heisman Trophy candidate left Saturday night’s 31-7 loss to Vanderbilt in the second quarter after taking a shot to the head.

Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer offered no specific injury update on Sellers after the game, and said it’s “way to soon” to know if backup Luke Doty, who was ineffective in the loss, would start against the Tigers.

Beamer did not say if Sellers had a concussion, but the training staff at one point took his helmet away.

Sellers took a helmet-to-helmet hit from Vanderbilt’s Langston Patterson, who came free on a blitz, after he threw a pass with the No. 11 Gamecocks trailing 14-7. Patterson received a roughing the passer penalty and was disqualified from the game for targeting.

Sellers remained on the ground for more than a minute while being attended to by the training staff.

Beamer expressed displeasure with the hit during a halftime interview questioning why officials nearly allowed the next play to be run before deciding to review the hit.

“When you lose the leader of your football team and you lose your starting quarterback like that — and we were doing a lot of good things,” Beamer said.

Sellers completed 6 of 7 passes for 94 yards with one costly interception in the red zone. He was sacked once and had minus-3 yards rushing. Doty was 18 of 27 for 148 yards with one interception but failed to lead a scoring drive in the second half.

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