Shane Beamer discusses expectations, work still needed for former five-star Nyckoles Harbor

Going into the 2024 season, South Carolina fans are wondering if former five-star receiver Nyckoles Harbor can begin to live up to his lofty hype coming out of high school.

As coach Shane Beamer explained, the expectations are through the roof on Harbor for several reasons, some outside his control.

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“I think Nyck’s a guy that really works hard,” Beamer said Wednesday on an SEC teleconference call. “There’s a lot of expectations on Nyck because of the track athlete that he is, the size that he has. Unfortunately — not unfortunately, but people pay attention to his speed rating on a video (game) that came out this summer, and being named a ‘freak,’ whatever that is, back-to-back years. I mean those are great accolades but there’s a lot of expectations on him. “

Harbor has indeed twice been named college football’s biggest “Freak” by The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman, an honor that takes into account raw athletic ability as much as anything else.

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But on paper, Nyckoles Harbor is, for now, just another guy. He caught 12 passes for 195 yards and a touchdown a year ago.

A healthy contribution, but definitely nothing to write home about.

For all the hype, though, you might not guess it by being around Harbor himself. Beamer praised Nyckoles Harbor for his humility and his work ethic.

“The thing that I appreciate the most about Nyck is just he understands that he has a lot of work to do and is willing to put the work in,” Beamer said. “He’s got a great humility about himself. He’s in here early every morning, he appreciates every opportunity, it’s really important to him to develop as a receiver.

“And frankly, he’s got a lot to develop at. He didn’t really play receiver in high school, and playing wide receiver at the SEC level is different. Getting off press coverage, how to run routes, perimeter blocking, catching the ball, run after the catch, doing stuff on special teams for us. Everything, to be honest with you.”

Shane Beamer opens up on the receiver corps

While Nyckoles Harbor has most of the eyes on him in the receiving corps, the Gamecocks will still look to get it done by committee.

Beamer plans to play a bunch of guys early until the top few players begin to emerge.

“I talked about it yesterday in our press conference: We’re going to play a lot of receivers this weekend,” Beamer said. “That group is still very much a work in progress. I think it may look potentially different in Week 6 than it does in Week 1, in Week 12 than what it does in Week 6.

“It’s a great competition in that room and they all have unique skillsets that complement each other well. I just want to see the guys that do what they’re expected to do, to get lined up and catch the ball and do a great job blocking in the run game on the perimeter and we’ll go from there.”

South Carolina will open its 2024 season against Old Dominion on Saturday at 4:15 p.m. ET with a broadcast on the SEC Network.