How Dowell Loggains helped Gamecocks land 5-star Nyckoles Harbor
Shortly after he was hired as South Carolina’s offensive coordinator, Dowell Loggains flew to Lubbock, Texas and spent four hours standing around at a track meet — just to watch Nyckoles Harbor run for what felt like six seconds.
Loggains and fellow assistant coaches Sterling Lucas and Jody Wright were the only college football coaches to make the trip.
“When the gun went off and he took off, it was well worth it,” Loggains said Wednesday in his first news conference of the spring. “Because you saw how special of an athlete he is — to be that size and run the way he does.”
The Gamecocks signed Harbor — a five-star recruit from Washington, D.C. — in February, giving them a blue-chip prospect to headline a historically strong 2023 recruiting class. At the time, head coach Shane Beamer credited the new coordinator Loggains for his role in landing the 6-foot-5, 225-pound athlete.
Recruited as an edge defender and tight end, Harbor will lineup at wide receiver for the Gamecocks in order to maximize his speed. Harbor also intends to run for the USC track team, with coach Curtis Frye calling Harbor a “generational” talent and even hinting that he put off retirement in order to coach him.
For his part, Loggains said his NFL experience — he spent seven years as an offensive coordinator at the next level — played a role in the recruiting trail, as did going the extra mile to travel to Texas for one of Harbors’ track events.
“That stuff matters to people,” Loggains said. “Being the only school there matters to people, and it’s how you separate yourself — and how can you create a brand that really, really elite players in the country get excited about?”
Loggains, 42, has already made a positive contribution in that regard with his assistance in landing Harbor. The coordinator has yet to call a play for the Gamecocks as he opens the spring replacing two-year coordinator Marcus Satterfield.
Though Gamecocks fans haven’t been able to see Loggains’ scheme in action, he painted a rosy picture Wednesday about USC’s emergence in the national recruiting picture and how Harbor’s signing helps to add even more enthusiasm around the program.
“When you can land those type players, it creates interesting buzz about your program that makes other really, really good players curious,” Loggains said. “You have to be able to get one of those guys before you start getting a lot of those guys. So it’s put us on the radar with some guys that are really talented that sometimes you battle for with the top programs in the country — just like we did with with Harbor. And we’re really excited about him.”
