South Carolina football uses unique motivation strategy with quarterbacks

South Carolina offensive coordinator Mike Shula is experimenting with a new form of getting the best out of his players. Whenever one of his quarterbacks makes a mistake, Shula instructs them to retrieve a fake plastic version of poop and place it on his desk.

Shula has had the tradition since before joining South Carolina. The reasoning?

“If I do something bad, (Shula)’s like, ‘Just go get the dump off my desk.’ And he makes us put it on his desk. He’s like, ‘That’s what you just did to me,'” starting quarterback LaNorris Sellers said.

The practice first started during Shula’s time with the New York Giants from 2018-19. When Shula uttered the phrase for the first time in New York, Eli Manning went out and bought the plastic prop and put it on Shula’s desk.

“Eli bought it… Eli took it and ran with it,” Shula said.

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From there, Shula brought it with him to the Buffalo Bills, where he served as a senior offensive assistant, and now to South Carolina football. Shula is entering his first season as the offensive coordinator of the Gamecocks. Former OC Dowell Loggains vacated the position to take the head coaching job at Appalachian State.

Head coach Shane Beamer found out about the tradition last week. It’s something he wishes could’ve stayed in-house with the team, but still understands what it does for the quarterbacks.

“Something came up, and Mike told Cutter (Woods) to go get it, and I didn’t know what was going on. And then Cutter came back carrying the piece of you know what, as well,” Beamer said. “And he kind of enlightened us on the backstory, going back to when he was with the New York Giants and all that as well. So whatever it takes to connect with guys and motivate them, I’m all for.”

Whatever Shula is able to use for coaching, signs indicate it might be working. Sellers finished with a 4.66:1 TD:INT ratio over the final seven games of the 2024 season. Recently, Mel Kiper Jr. placed Sellers second overall in his 2026 NFL mock draft.

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