What June will look like for five-star Nyckoles Harbor at South Carolina
Five-star South Carolina signee Nyckoles Harbor and the rest of the Gamecocks’ 2023 signing class are set to hit campus next week as preparations, in earnest, will begin for the 2023 season.
Listed as an “athlete” by On3 — and Harbor is that in every sense of the word — he will look to focus on one position at South Carolina after playing linebacker, defensive end, and tight end in high school while also being one of the fastest on the track in the country.
As head coach Shane Beamer said on the day Harbor signed with the Gamecocks, he is slated to start his career at wide receiver.
“We’re fortunate that he did that a little bit, obviously in high school, it’s not like he’s never caught the ball, or run a route, or played receiver before, so he’s got a baseline from that standpoint,” Beamer said Monday at the Florence Welcome Home Tour event. “He’s got, obviously, great athletic ability and instinct, so that helps. That’s what you can’t coach.”
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The 6-foot-5, 225-pounder will arrive in Columbia and instantly be one of the most easily recognized humans on campus.
The Olympic hopeful’s track exploits often go viral on social media due to his explosive speed at his sheer size. And the five-star prospect, the highest-ranked signee of the Beamer era so far, announced for the Gamecocks on ESPN in February, bringing an even bigger audience to his brand.
Harbor, who wanted to complete his track career at Archbishop Carroll in Washington, D.C., did not have the advantage of going through spring practice at South Carolina but new NCAA rules, allowing coaching staffs to spend more time with the team in June and July, should help the transition.
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“The fact that the summertime, he’ll get there in June and have almost two months of development before we actually start practice,” Beamer continued. “And Justin Stepp and our offensive coaches will be able to really work with him individually and directly from a mental and physical standpoint, get ready for practice, which is something that we weren’t able to do in recent years. So between all of that, get him out there, and again, we never wanna do anything with a player that he can’t do, but Nyck is really athletic and instinctive, and he’ll be fine making that transition.”
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While Beamer has also been quick to caution that fans need to have realistic expectations during Harbor’s first season on campus, there’s also no doubting his nearly limitless ceiling as a player.
On3 Director of Scouting and Rankings Charles Power spoke about that potential during an episode of GC LIVE earlier this year.
“I just think the biggest thing with him is going to be just focusing on one position and really ultimately if he focuses on football, there’s a ton of upside,” Power said. “He would be one, if you’re a coach, you’ve got to be really excited about the prospect of developing him because there’s just so much natural ability but there’s still a lot of it that’s untapped. When you see him in person, you see all these dozens and dozens of top prospects in person, he sticks out physically. He was one of the top two or three most physically impressive guys at Under Armour, so obviously a huge get for South Carolina.”
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