Shane Beamer, South Carolina players share first impressions of Nyck Harbor
First impressions of Nyck Harbor in his first few months with the Gamecocks have gone about as expected.
“First impressions?” Shane Beamer said, smiling. “He’s fast.”
Beamer, speaking about Harbor for the first time since Harbor enrolled over the summer, got to share what he’s seen from the highly-touted freshman.
And he’s seeing the Gamecocks’ five-star receiver doing the things he wants to from a guy coming in over the summer.
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“Great young man. (He’s) working hard. (Harbor) sent me a text message last week. He and LaNorris Sellers were just in the indoor by themselves just throwing,” Beamer said. “He sent me a text basically just checking in and saying hello and whatnot. Great, great guy excited about him being in our program. I know our players are excited.”
Gamecocks quarterback Spencer Rattler–another highly-touted, five-star talent coming out of high school–weighed in as well.
“Yeah, he’s been great. You know, another young guy who’s soaking everything in and really just learning the offense right now,” Rattler said. “Working on his hands, working on his technique and everything like that. We know he has the speed, but, you know, we’re putting everything else together.”
Tonka Hemingway joked that while the offensive players rave about his speed,but “right now I’m faster than him until proven guilty.”
On3 rated Harbor as a five-star prospect and the No. 31 player in the 2023 class. He checks in at No. 21 and the top-ranked athlete in the On3 Industry rankings as well.
With all of those accolades–on both the football field and on the track–it can be hard to set reasonable expectations for a player like that.
Which is why Beamer cautions against it and thinking Harbor will come in and “just take over college football.”
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“My concern is just the expectations that the outside puts on him that he’s the savior coming in here and is going to come in and just take over college football. The guy’s a true freshman that was in high school a month ago. So let’s temper the expectations a little bit,” Beamer said.
“He’s an 18-year-old young man that’s really, really talented. For us, we’ll give him an opportunity to get the ball in his hands as many different many ways as we can. He’s part of a really good receiver room, so he’s gonna have to earn it. But certainly excited about him being in our program and what he brings to the table.”
