South Carolina's Nyck Harbor faces hurdle to blossoming into a star receiver in 2024

Nyck Harbor is one of the fastest people on the planet. That’s not hyperbole. It’s a fact. 

The South Carolina dual-sport phenom recently recorded the second-fastest 200-meter time (20.97 seconds) in the country this outdoor track season. Harbor is legitimately eyeing a spot on Team USA for the Summer Olympics in Paris.

As a red-blooded American who loves the Olympics, I think that’s awesome. It would be great to see Harbor win a medal for the Red, White & Blue. 

But as a college football fan, it also kind of bums me out because Nyck Harbor the football player is missing another offseason of potential development. 

Can Harbor blossom into a sophomore star despite missing so much practice time?

Last February, South Carolina beat out Oregon for Harbor, and it was a huge deal. Shane Beamer landed his first 5-star signee with the Gamecocks, and folks immediately began salivating at how South Carolina would utilize the 6-5, 230-pound freakazoid. 

Would he be a blurry edge rusher? A hybrid flex-tight end? 

The Gamecocks settled on Harbor being a true X-receiver — a position he hardly played in high school at Archbishop Carroll (D.C.). The move proved challenging, as Harbor spent the majority of his freshman season learning. 

How to run routes. How to master the proper techniques with footwork and separation. Diving into offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains’ playbook. Understanding coverages. 

The results were a mixed bag for the 5-star freshman. Harbor finished the year with just 12 receptions for 195 yards and one touchdown. He struggled at times fighting the football, recording a 20% drop-rate, per PFF.

He had six games with zero catches and caught more than a single pass in a game twice all year.

That’s not to say Harbor didn’t flash electric talent. His best play of the season was a 45-yard catch against Florida on a play-action shot where he boxed out a smaller corner and simply big-boy’d the defensive back for the ball. Against Texas A&M he had six receptions for 59 yards. 

But considering he didn’t enroll until the summer, and was also injured for parts of last offseason, Harbor’s freshman campaign was — much like his speed — a blur. 

The hope was that with a complete offseason to continue learning the nuances of playing receiver, Harbor would emerge as a breakout star in 2024. 

I can’t rule that out from happening, but I’m certainly skeptical considering Harbor won’t participate in actual football practices until training camp in August. 

Now there’s no questioning Harbor’s work ethic or desire to be a great football player. Despite participating in both indoor and outdoor track, he’s attended offseason team meetings, caught balls after hours on the JUGGS machines and received mental reps at South Carolina’s first spring practice.

But Beamer acknowledged Tuesday that, “Nyck’s primary focus right now is track and trying to win championships for our track team. And then there’s also the summer Olympics coming up as well, which I do believe is a very real possibility for him, potentially. 

“So football-wise, track is the priority, but he will be with football when it doesn’t interfere with track and when it doesn’t interfere with his class schedule.”

Again, I get it for Nyck Harbor the track star. It stinks for Nyck Harbor the football player, though. 

Because Harbor wasn’t an early enrollee last year, he won’t participate in a spring practice until his junior season — at the earliest. For such a raw player with tantalizing talent, that’s 30 missed opportunities to develop fundamentals, chemistry with a quarterback (especially new South Carolina starter LaNorris Sellers this spring) and master the playbook. 

He’s also dropped weight this offseason to get into track shape, telling The State in January he’s dropped some 20 pounds since his freshman year. 

That’s just a lot to overcome for a potential breakout sophomore season. 

South Carolina did lose its top-five pass catchers off last year’s team, so there are opportunities for Harbor if he manages to blossom despite missing so much practice time. And he certainly has lofty goals for 2024, telling TheBigSpur earlier this spring, that he will be a “true No. 1 receiver,” and “I’m going to have a better year than Xavier (Legette).”

For reference: Legette caught 71 passes for 1,255 yards and seven touchdowns for the Gamecocks in 2023. I’d be stunned if Harbor replicated those numbers next season.

I hope I’m wrong, though. 

“I told him today on the field, when we were talking, I want him to be able to be the greatest track student-athlete he can be this spring and win championships,” Beamer said. 

“But I also want him to get better as a football player without it taking away from track. So I think we have a good plan.”

They probably do, but it’s a tricky needle to thread, and my fear is we won’t see close to the best of what Nyck Harbor has to offer as a football player in 2024.