Shane Beamer details progression of Nyck Harbor during freshman year

Big-bodied freshman wideout Nyck Harbor says his “time is coming” — and after a 45-yard contested grab vs. Florida, head coach Shane Beamer agrees.

Harbor was an elite recruiting pickup for the South Carolina program this past cycle, ranking as a five-star prospect in the On3 Industry Rankings. However, early on in his true freshman season, finding the field hasn’t been so easy. Shane Beamer detailed why that is this week.

“For people to just sit there and say, ‘okay, well this guy was a five-star recruit, so just throw him out there and let him go.’ I wish it was that simple, guys. People that think that don’t always have a great understanding of what playing football is like,” Beamer explained of Harbor’s situation, since he hasn’t played the rookie very much so far.

“There’s a lot, and our offense — every offense in the country — is a little bit more complex than just, ‘hey, line up on the right side and run a 12 yard curl and that’s all you have to do,'” Beamer continued. “There’s adjustments and there’s blocking assignments and you got to — we do a lot offensively, and there’s motions and once you get in the right place, you got to be able to make plays and make catches and things like that.”

But Harbor hasn’t been in a hurry. As mentioned, he knows his time is coming, but also that getting onto the football field in SEC games isn’t easy or something that always comes right away.

“First of all, you know, I’m glad that Nyck said that and he’s right. It’s a process,” says Coach Beamer, explaining that he’s really developed under the wing of star receiver Xavier Legette. Those have been in the gym all the time as Nyck Harbor is also a fixture inn the film room.

“And he’s made the progress that he’s had because he works his butt off, first of all. He watches Xavier Legette every day and learns from him — and just the time that that Nick puts in to everything, it’s evident. Xavier works really hard, all of our guys do.

“But you know, Nick’s up here all the time just trying to get like extra work and extra meeting time, and coaches are up here at night and he’ll pop in here at you know 8:30 on a Tuesday night, you know, just to watch tape with the coaches and stuff like that.

That work ethic and attitude are promising signs, but Shane Beamer understands that he needs to find the right time to insert his talented freshman, no matter how ready he is.

“So he’s put the time in from a mental stand point, and also, too, like, we got to be smart. When we have good players, we got to make sure that we’re not asking them to do too much schematically where they can’t get on the field. So don’t misunderstand what I’m saying, but we can’t be so simple that we just line up and run the same two plays every time, either.”

Lastly, Beamer explained that Nyck Harbor is developing as a much more confident college football player in his first year. That performance vs. Florida, highlighted by one 45-yard grab in traffic, is only a sign of more to come.

“That’s what I’ve seen with him is playing with more confidence, catching the ball more consistently, and was so happy for him to make that catch Saturday. And not make not just make the catch, but play, I think, 28 plays, 29 plays, whatever it was. I talked to him yesterday downstairs in the hallway and he was so excited about getting to play and getting to play more this week too.”