Someone said on another thread if we don’t give Harbor some playing time he may consider jumping. I tend to agree. I know most considered him a defensive prospect and he may have things to learn about route running. What do we have to gain by not playing him some? Like others have said, I’d rather give him some looks than trotting Doty out there at WR. I think it’s time to think about giving him a reason to stay than trying to involve Doty in the offense.
Harbor
- Thread starter Beanerball
- Start date
Been thinking a lot about this. If you are not confident in what you’re doing, you won’t do it well. He came here to play WR. That’s what he wanted, knowing it would take some time to learn the position. He’s playing in every game. I’m done complaining about it. When he’s ready he’s ready. But I’m going to choose to believe the coaches are not “holding him back” on purpose. I just wish Beamer would quit saying “we need to play him more”. It makes him look stupid.
We must have the most difficult offensive and defensive schemes. Freshmen playing on every team but not smart enough to understand our offense and defense here.
Harbor has never played the position, and spends spring and summer running track. Beamer tried to warn us all to be patient with him and not expect too much too soon. Looks like nobody believed him.
Only at USC would a 5* top 20ish recruit end up being a developmental prospect. I guarantee if he had gone to Oregon, he'd have been an impact player by now.
You can read the evaluations.
247sports.com
Nyck Harbor, South Carolina Gamecocks, Wide Receiver
Member of 247Sports' 2023 Freaks List. Ran 100-meter times of 10.28 and 10.29, among numerous other sub-11.00 reps, as a junior. Also ran a wind-aided 20.76...
247sports.com
if my memory serves me correct, I’m pretty sure it took Alshon a little while to get on the field consistently.
I don't care. I guarantee if he had gone to Oregon, they'd have him as a functional player by now.
He had his coming out party game 6 against KY in 2009, his freshman year. We’re approaching that territory now. No one is saying he will be Alshon, but he’s also not being born opportunities to get there.
He (and the team) would have benefitted greatly if he was able to enroll early. He enrolled in mid-July.
Considering he was changing positions it would have given him a more solid base for Fall camp.
Oh well. It's what it is. I think the staff is leary of him losing confidence if he plays and screws up.
Considering he was changing positions it would have given him a more solid base for Fall camp.
Oh well. It's what it is. I think the staff is leary of him losing confidence if he plays and screws up.
Coaches are risk-averse, hoping the 'safest' option will produce. Coaches are not infallible, and must recognize and accept when those options do not produce. See Mario Anderson.
Harbor did not come here because 'South Carolina'. But if we continue trying to force what is painfully not there in the name of 'safe', he will LEAVE because 'South Carolina', I promise you that.
What do you mean "force"? He wants to play WR. We're not forcing anything. Forcing it would be just throwing him out there when he's not ready, then everyone talking about what a bust he is b/c he's running wrong routes and can't make plays.
Unless you know him personally, you can't really promise anything. Beamer said before the season not to expect too much. Harbor himself said the same thing. All of us were warned that he wasn't going to be an instant impact. If you didn't heed that warning, that's your problem, not Beamer's.
I think one thing to remember is he was rated a 5* b/c of his raw, freakish athleticism. Not b/c he was a great football player. His film looks good playing against crap competition in MD. There is a chance the guy is just a track star in pads, and will never develop.
Doubtful. He's likely only getting reps now b/c of injuries. Seems like OR is doing just fine with their WRs. They're not just going to throw a guy in there that doesn't know what he's doing b/c he has great top end speed.
lol, this is just the most Carolina thing ever. One of our most highly rated recruits we've landed and we think he may not actually be a very good player at all. Only in the midlands!
Nope. Honestly he's a positionless guy. He's not a quick twitch guy, so edge isn't an option. And he's not going to bulk up for that anyway. I don't think he's quick enough for WR. He's a long strider that takes a few seconds to get up to speed. He's not really going to work on that b/c it would interfere with his track. TE is probably his best position, but there seemed to be little interest in having him block.
If he were a 100% football player it wouldn't be this difficult.
If he's that incapable of playing WR, then it's total malpractice for this staff to have recruited him that way and we should clean house right now.
Thanks for posting that. It seems everyone except our fanbase is on the same page...be patient.You can read the evaluations.
Nyck Harbor, South Carolina Gamecocks, Wide Receiver
Member of 247Sports' 2023 Freaks List. Ran 100-meter times of 10.28 and 10.29, among numerous other sub-11.00 reps, as a junior. Also ran a wind-aided 20.76...
"Has to continue to work on being sharper and more precise in and out of breaks. Made strides in tracking ball and has to continue to development of pass-catching skills. Learning to sit in space and find open spots against zone are areas Harbor continues to work on."
"Will take time to develop regardless of position but can play at high level program. Athletic traits and size make him potential first round NFL draft pick."
Well that one went right over your head my friend.
The 'forced' was in reference to Joyner, Juju, and Doty.
Does that sound like something most of the guys ahead of him have mastered? Aside from XL, have they produced?
Wonder what they thought Anderson needed to work on.
That's the most dramatic thing I've seen on a message board in a while...and that's saying something!!!
Nobody said he's incapable. It's just going to take time. It took XL 3 years to get to where he is. Same with Josh Vann. Just b/c the kid has world class speed doesn't mean he's any better of an option than anybody else.
The best way to get 5*s is to get 5*s. Even if he flames out, we were better off taking him. I am glad you're not anywhere near our AD in a decision making capacity....no offense.
I'm sorry. I don't buy this bunk that he isn't able/can't/hasn't been able to ascertain how to run fast down the field. He isn't some dumb jock. He's been practicing (we assume) for months now. You'd think he could have been taught in that amount of time, technique on how to get off his man at the line, and go. He's a 6'5", 241lb freak, rated the #1 athlete in the country - a .98 - 5*...... and our coaching staff can't get him involved? As a fan, it's so frustrating. And yes, while there's no way to prove it short of there being parallel universes, I 110% believe pretty much any other team would be utilizing his abilities. But hey, at least we recognize that "we need to" get him involved. So there's that.
Ah, I got you. Joyner has been forced, agree with you there. I don't think JuJu is in that same category. He didn't touch the ball for 3 weeks before getting 3 carries against UT. Doty isn't taking snaps from Harbor. Different position. But his taking snaps from Lewis, which is a head scratcher to me. Harbor isn't being impacted at all by any of those players you mentioned.
That's the most dramatic thing I've seen on a message board in a while...and that's saying something!!!
Nobody said he's incapable. It's just going to take time. It took XL 3 years to get to where he is. Same with Josh Vann. Just b/c the kid has world class speed doesn't mean he's any better of an option than anybody else.
The best way to get 5*s is to get 5*s. Even if he flames out, we were better off taking him. I am glad you're not anywhere near our AD in a decision making capacity....no offense.
Well, if message board posters can see his glaring WR deficiencies, I think it's pretty bad that our coaches did not.
Well, you were warned by the HC and by Harbor himself not to expect too much. Harbor mentioned how much more difficult it was playing WR than DE.
Did you play or coach WR at an SEC level? If not, then you probably don't know what you're talking about....I didn't either, so I'm not going to pretend it's just a matter of running him out there and telling him to run fast. That's absurd.
EVERYBODY SAW THEM!! Oregon did, Michigan did....but he's a unique talent that you HAVE to pursue for the POTENTIAL. The last sentence of the eval said his athleticism and size alone make him a 1st round NFL talent....not his superb route running or elite hands.
He's being impacted because we're fixated on' safe mode.'
Forget it man; carry on. We can all gnash our teeth next year when Harbor is somewhere else and Doty is still out there.
There were reviews coming out of camp that he physically looked the part, but was struggling grasping the offense.
My guess is, one way or another, some will find something to gnash about. Seems to be a trend around here.
I think Harbor is merely learning how to be a FOOTBALL PLAYER and not just another fast guy. Give him time to learn it.
Right. 'Grasping the offense' by the other two certainly benefitted our run game, wouldn't you say.
I would not say that at all. I don't like what happened at RB at all.
But none of us are involved in practice or film study. If a player isn't confident in what he's supposed to be doing, he's not playing to the fullest of his potential. I can only assume that was the issue. I'm just glad it appears to have been rectified.
Here’s a good write up from Brad Crawford. Interesting that PFF graded him as our worst performing WR. The only two players on the team that graded worse were Hughes and Fugar. If he’s grading that low he’s not getting open and not running good routes. So he’s not getting the ball no matter what play you call for him. Just relax a little and let the kid develop.
247sports.com
Context behind Nyck Harbor’s usage rate, start to five-star’s freshman season at South Carolina
Reasons we're not seeing much of the elite 2023 signee thus far with the Gamecocks.
247sports.com
There were 32 5*s in this year's class. Only 7 are starting, and Harbor is one of 15 that has logged at least 1 snap. He's played in all 5 games .I'm not sure what the breakout is of his snaps vs the other 14. But the notion that we're the only ones not playing a 5* is fake news.
Context is important though. Look at that list of 5* kids and most of them went to blue blood type programs...UGA, Bama, PSU, Texas, OU, A&M, etc. Teams that are already loaded with talent. That ain't us.
To be fair, the football program shares blame for the hype. To my knowledge, Harbor is the only recruit for which they released a video showing Beamer's reaction when he committed. They took part in stories like in the video I posted above.
You're right. Context is important. He plays XL's position. You want him taking snaps away from XL? A&M is not a blue blood program, not even close. Colorado got one, and he's not playing. Why? B/c he's not ready...straight out of Prime's mouth. He's a DB too, so they could certainly use some help in the swiss cheese pass D they have.
There's only one group of people that shares blame for "not meeting expectations"....and that's those people that had higher expectations when they were told by the HC and the player himself not to expect too much.