South Carolina 2023 recruiting superlatives: Nyckoles Harbor headlines solid class
Shane Beamer and his staff can take a bow.
South Carolina wrapped up the nation’s No. 16 recruiting class in the 2023 cycle, per the 247Sports team rankings. That’s the best finish for the program since clocking in at No. 18 in 2018.
So what all should be taken away from this year’s group? Here are some superlatives on the 2023 signees:
Most important get
This one goes to the last of South Carolina’s 2023 commitments — five-star athlete Nyckoles Harbor.
We’ve written about what Harbor would bring to the Gamecocks if they were able to land him. Well, now those dreams are set to become reality.
Harbor was rated the No. 1 athlete and No. 19 prospect in the class given his other-worldly combination of size and Olympic-level speed. He’s a player just about everyone in America wanted and a recruiting battle that quite literally came down to the 11th hour as South Carolina won out over late charges from Oregon, Maryland and Michigan.
It’s hard to overstate how big a recruiting win Harbor was for this staff in the immediate and long-term future of what they’re building in Columbia. His pledge is the kind that puts people on notice. Harbor, a Washington, D.C., product, is also the type of national recruit South Carolina has rarely, if ever, landed outside the confines of its own state lines.
Biggest recruiting miss
This comes with the caveat that South Carolina has mostly nailed its offensive line recruiting in two full cycles under Greg Adkins and Lonnie Teasley. (Take a peek at the 2024 class for proof of concept.) That said, missing out on JUCO offensive tackle Isaiah Jatta hurt.
The Gamecocks were on him relatively early and netted a commitment from the Snow College product in June. Then, well, Deion Sanders did his thing. Jatta decommitted on Dec. 13 and signed with Sanders and Colorado eight days later.
South Carolina is slated to lose three starters from the 2022 offensive line. USC has done a nice job adding transfers Nick Gargiulo (Yale) and Sidney Fugar (Western Illinois). Add in four-star signee Markee Anderson, three-star Jatavius Shivers and four-stars Trovon Baugh and Oluwatosin “Tree” Babalade and the Gamecocks should be OK in mitigating the losses of Eric Douglas, Jovaughn Gwyn and Dylan Wonnum.
Still, Jatta is the kind of high-level, plug-and-play guy South Carolina really could’ve used. It will instead have to rely on youngsters or transfer players to fill those voids.
Immediate impact
The obvious answer is Harbor.
South Carolina could use some added depth at receiver, given it will lose five of its top six pass-catchers from a season ago. Harbor also told The State at his commitment ceremony he’ll play more receiver than tight end. Receivers coach Justin Stepp will certainly be excited about that.
Beyond Harbor, look for linebacker Grayson “Pup” Howard and defensive end Desmond Umeozulu to get on the field early.
Howard has been lauded for his leadership abilities by those inside the building, and he arrived on campus early enough to participate in bowl practices. How much he gained from those remains to be seen, but he’s a guy the staff thinks can be a centerpiece of this defense for the next few years.
Given the departures of Brad Johnson and Sherrod Greene at linebacker, there should be snaps available in the rotation with Debo Williams, Mo Kaba and Stone Blanton.
Umeozulu could see time due to necessity as much as anything. It’s well-documented how thin South Carolina is a defensive end — and that’s not to mention four-star signee Monteque Rhames’ future with the program is up in the air after his recent arrest.
A four-star prospect, Umeozulu was the highest-rated recruit in the class outside of Harbor at No. 144 overall. He’s got elite size at 6-foot-6, 239 pounds and may well need to play early following the losses of Jordan Burch (Oregon) and Gilber Edmond (Florida State) to the transfer portal.
Most interesting non-blue chip prospect
Let’s go with the two players technically listed as the lowest-rated guys in this class in three-star athlete Kamron Sandlin and three-star receiver Tyshawn Russell.
Sandlin is a fascinating prospect who played quarterback during his prep career in Alabama. He’s a freak athlete who likely projects as a tight end, but could come with some of the versatility Jaheim Bell flashed the last two seasons. Don’t be surprised if he gets in the mix in some wildcat situations.
Russell was a late-riser who committed three days before the early signing period opened in December. He’s a dynamic basketball player with bouncy ability, but is semi-raw as far as receiver goes. A redshirt year will likely serve him well, though his athletic ability makes him an interesting player to track a season or two down the line.
Final thoughts
This is another really solid recruiting class for Shane Beamer with a number of high-upside guys and a legitimate headliner in Harbor.
South Carolina pulled in a group that’s extremely geographically diverse, too, signing 24 players from seven different states, plus Washington, D.C. The work Beamer and this staff have done in the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area is particularly notable.
If there’s a knock at all on this class — which is more subjective than anything — it’s that the Gamecocks are still looking to punch a bit more above their weight in terms of top 140 prospects. Harbor is the only such player in this class, but South Carolina does already have commitments from three top 140 players for 2024. That’s the type of clip the Gamecocks need to hit on to compete with the Georgias and Tennessees of the world consistently.
USC has done well on the offensive line in landing Anderson and the rest of that crew. That’s a base from which to build in the coming years in the trenches. Quarterback LaNorris Sellers, too, was a nice get late in the process, and there’s belief he’ll out-perform his recruiting ranking (four-star, No. 247 overall).
South Carolina made some waves in this class. Harbor was an enormous coup and there’s a lot to like with this group in the trenches. How it’ll play out? Let’s revisit that in a couple years.
This story was originally published February 13, 2023 at 7:30 AM.
