Is Nick Emmanwori the fastest player on the South Carolina football team?
For the last couple of months, we’ve all rightfully been focused on the speed of Nyck but it may also be time to talk about Nick’s quicks. As in, Nick Emmanwori.
The Gamecocks added a generational track star and two-sport standout when five-star ATH Nyckoles Harbor signed with South Carolina last week.
But who is the fastest player on the Gamecocks team right now?
Emmanwori — a rising sophomore who took home freshman All-American honors at safety last season — has seemingly staked his claim.
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South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler was asked in his appearance on the Gamecock Central Takeover Hour on 107.5 The Game last week, who he thought would win a race between Harbor and South Carolina wide receiver Ahmarean Brown in a 40-yard-dash.
The premise: Harbor is the elite of the elite in the 100, 200 and even 60-meter dash. But given a shorter distance for a race, Brown — a known 4.3-second 40-yard-dasher — may have a chance to edge out the 6-foot-5 Harbor before his long stride took over.
But given the question about the two speedsters, Rattler also nonchalantly added someone else to the race: Emmanwori.
“AB, he’s fast, he’s twitchy. I might take him. AB’s a 4.3 guy. In the 40, I might take AB but anything past that I feel like that stride with Harbor will catch up. But Emmanwori is fast too. He can get up too,” Rattler said.
Coincidentally — or perhaps not coincidentally — later in the week Emmanwori posted a quick video on Instagram of him racing and seemingly beating Brown in what appears to be a 50-yard race at the indoor facility with the caption: “Why they keep trying me man fastest on the team!”
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Perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise that Emmawori is possibly the fastest player in Garnet and Black. The 6-foot-3, 208-pounder earned his offer in Carolina’s camp two summers ago by testing off the charts including running a 40-yard-dash that is believed to have been in the 4.4s.
Of course, Gamecock Central did watch Brown casually run a 40-yard-dash in the 4.3s while goofing off at Carolina’s camp last season.
For the record, Harbor ran a U.S.-leading 6.64-second 60-meter dash (about 65 yards) in Lubbock last month with the South Carolina football staff on hand.
Maybe the only way to settle this is to line up Nyck, Nick and AB in a winner-take-all race this summer after Harbor arrives.
“I definitely want to see AB, Nick and Harbor race,” Rattler said. “That’ll be something cool to see. I’ll be on the side watching. I will not be running. I’ll be the judge.”
It’s something the rest of us would like to see too.
