Shane Beamer calls signing of Nyckoles Harbor 'huge' for South Carolina

Five star athlete Nyckoles Harbor is the crown jewel of the 2023 South Carolina recruiting class, ranked the 16th best in the cycle according to the On3 Consensus. And landing the highly-coveted prospect is a statement for Shane Beamer and the Gamecocks.

Speaking with On3’s J.D. PicKell on “The Hard Count,” Beamer dove in to what the commitment signals. And what it means going forward.

“When you have a player the caliber of Nyckoles that’s ranked as high as he is, but then he decides on national television where the whole is country is watching — and the number of schools we beat out for Nyckoles when he decided to become a Gamecock — that just, it resonated with a lot of people,” Beamer said. “And most importantly it resonated with other high school prospects that saw that. The minute that Nyck committed, I got a ton of 2024 kids that are texting my phone, excited about it as well and the statement we made when Nyck signed with us.”

South Carolina, along with the 16th ranked class in the 2023 cycle, is currently ranked 7th for the 2024 cycle — a class currently anchored by premiere in-state tackle prospect Kam Pringle.

And Beamer noted that the 2023 group is the best recruiting class that South Carolina has signed in a decade. In 2014, the Gamecocks signed the 15th-best class in the country and tied the 2023 mark with the 16th ranked class for the 2017 cycle.

It’s all trending up at the moment for Beamer and South Carolina, in no small part because of the commitment of one Nyckoles Harbor.

“It was huge. And that goes right back to the energy part that I think people feel across the country about South Carolina football,” Beamer said. It was already high because we had just signed our highest-rated recruiting class in over 10 years, I believe. And we’ve had some success on the field during the regular season. So the excitement level is already high.”