Shane Beamer is on a heater, as South Carolina continues to flex on the recruiting trail by landing 5-star freak Nyckoles Harbor
It was just six weeks ago that Shane Beamer was snapping back at South Carolina fans and media, offering a terse reminder of “some of the things we’ve done here” after Gamecocks faithful went bezerk over a couple transfer portal losses and a strange offensive coordinator hire.
Well, with his latest statement on the recruiting trail, Shane Beamer can put the shades back on and film his next viral rap video.
“Look at me now.”
In a rollercoaster recruitment, South Carolina beat out Oregon for 5-star athlete Nyckoles Harbor , dipping into Washington D.C. to land the freakiest prospect in the 2023 class.
At 6-5, 225 pounds, Harbor ran the 100-meters in 10.21 seconds and is considered a legitimate future Olympian sprinter. He owns the fastest 200-meter time of any prep athlete in the country and has been comp’d to a speedier D.K. Metcalf on the gridiron.
“Shane Beamer is building something different there and I just want to be a part of that,” Harbor said on his decision to commit to South Carolina.
“Beamer ball is gonna be great.”
Harbor projects as either a menacing edge rusher or hybrid tight end (think bigger Kyle Pitts) for the Gamecocks. Regardless of where he ends up positionally, what matters today is that Shane Beamer and his staff secured the signature of their first 5-star prospect in three recruiting classes. Harbor, like Jadeveon Clowney exactly 11 years ago, is a recruit who can change the trajectory of South Carolina’s program.
“The last 24 hours, really the last 12, have taken hours, years off my life,” said Beamer, who noted he received a voice message from Harbor at 3 a.m. that “wasn’t good.”
“To see him put that hat on was, I’ll be honest with you, a pretty emotional moment for me.”
With Harbor in the fold, the Gamecocks have the nation’s No. 16 class — their best showing in the recruiting rankings in a decade. It ranks as the seventh-best class in the SEC, which proves the difficultly of the job that Beamer inherited.
And yet, the affable, boundless energy head coach has continued to put South Carolina on a trek toward continued improvement.
South Carolina has a wave of momentum to start the 2023 offseason
Shane Beamer will passionately recite his program’s recent resume, but he’s absolutely not satisfied with what they’ve accomplished, either.
Beamer exceeded expectations on the field in Year 1, taking the Gamecocks bowling despite a carousel of starting quarterbacks and a roster with little experience.
They were even better this fall, going 8-4 in the regular season with back-to-back Top 10 upsets over Tennessee and Clemson — spoiling both program’s College Football Playoff hopes.
Sure, things got a bit awkward in mid-December when guys like Jaheim Bell, MarShawn Lloyd and Jordan Burch entered the transfer portal, but none of those players were recruited to South Carolina by Shane Beamer.
The Gamecocks’ new cultural foundation remains strong, and that’s evidenced by who’s coming to South Carolina — not who’s leaving it.
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Guys like Harbor. Guys like Markee Anderson and Xzavier McLeod.
One of the major reasons why Beamer was hired at South Carolina was because he was the recruiting coordinator during the heyday of Steve Spurrier’s tenure.
Beamer was part of a staff that kept the likes of Marcus Lattimore, Alshon Jeffery and Connor Shaw in the Palmetto State. But then Beamer moved up the assistant ladder elsewhere, Clemson became the preeminent program in the state and South Carolina’s foothold in the region was gone.
Since returning as Carolina’s head coach, Beamer is aiming to take it back, though.
Harbor’s commitment deservedly stole all the headlines Wednesday, but it was just the latest tidal wave of momentum for South Carolina on the recruiting trail.
In Beamer’s first two recruiting classes, South Carolina failed to sign a Top 5 in-state prospect. In 2023, the Gamecocks signed four of the Top 5 recruits from the Palmetto State — all blue-chip prospects.
Meanwhile, Clemson signed one in-state prospect ranked in the Top 10.
The Gamecocks’ feel-good vibes have already spilled into the 2024 cycle, too.
In just the last eight days, they’ve landed the nation’s No. 1-ranked offensive tackle Kam Pringle, a South Carolina native, and dipped into the Peach State for verbal commitments from 4-star linebacker Wendell Gregory and 4-star tight end Michael Smith
“This ’24 class is gonna be insane,” Gregory told On3. “You’ve seen the kids that have already committed this week. Those are my guys right there too. I know their families. They know my family. This ’24 class is gonna be crazy, so I just want to build onto it.”
In what’s shaping up to be a potential Top 10 class next year, the Cocks also have a commitment from 4-star quarterback Dante Reno and are the heavy favorites for in-state 4-stars Josiah Thompson, another Top 100 offensive tackle, and athlete Mazeo Bennett.
South Carolina is a hard job. At some point, Beamer is likely to hit his head on the program’s ceiling.
But by landing Harbor, coupled with the early returns from the 2024 class, he’s proving he doesn’t believe in that assessment. Shane Beamer has repeatedly pronounced that this is a “new Carolina,” and with every upset on the field or big win on the recruiting trail, he just might be right.