South Carolina receiver Nyck Harbor reveals lofty goals for junior season
South Carolina’s Nyck Harbor has big goals for the 2025 season.
How big?
“I’m not really gonna put a number on it, but just know I’m gonna pop it off,” the junior Gamecocks wide receiver said on a recent podcast appearance. “Whatever you’ve seen last year, I’m gonna really pop it off this year. So if I’m up there with the Biletnikoff Award finalists? Hey, I said it first.”
Winning the award for college football’s most outstanding receiver — that’s the level of play Harbor is shooting for in his third (and possibly last) season at USC.
Harbor laid out his all-in offseason approach to football and his plans for this season on a June 12 episode of “As I Sip My Coffee,” a podcast hosted by former USC player Syvelle Newton and produced by 1801 Media.
Harbor (6-foot-5, 235 pounds) was a decorated track athlete coming out of Washington, DC and signed to play both sports at South Carolina. He was a 2024 second-team track All-American and qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials.
But he did not participate in indoor or outdoor track season as a sophomore and said on the podcast that he remains focused on developing into “the best receiver in college football.” And he’s made one thing clear to South Carolina’s coaches.
“I’ve expressed to them: I want the ball,” Harbor said on the podcast.
Nyck Harbor’s development at USC
Sky-high expectations have followed Harbor, 19, ever since he arrived in Columbia. In high school, he was a five-star recruit and the No. 1 athlete in the Class of 2023.
And EA Sports introduced him to a whole new audience of college football fans by giving him ridiculous attributes — including 99 speed — in “College Football 25.”
But it took Harbor a while to settle in with the Gamecocks.
First of all, wide receiver was a new position for him. He’d only played tight end and defensive end in high school. He caught 12 passes in 12 games as a true freshman at USC and struggled with drops. Indoor and outdoor track and field season limited his time with the football team heading into 2024, and it showed.
Across USC’s first eight games, he had 104 receiving yards. Total.
“I got to a point where I sat down with myself and said, ‘It’s time to really show who you are,’ ” Harbor told Newton on the podcast, reflecting on his sophomore season. “I’ll say the Missouri game is when I clicked into Nyckoles Harbor and you started to see what this dude can become with the targets he gets.”
Harbor caught two passes for 69 yards and a touchdown in South Carolina’s win over Missouri on Nov. 16 and ultimately racked up 15 catches for 272 yards and two touchdowns over his last five games. That represented the majority of his season-long production (26-376-3) and made him USC’s second-leading receiver.
Harbor also started eight of 13 games and led all Gamecocks wideouts in snaps (627).
Harbor’s lofty goals for the 2025 season
Now, after stepping away from track and participating in a full offseason of football workouts, Harbor said he feels like he’s in position for a breakout season.
“I went into the lab for these last six, seven months to become a different player,” he said on the podcast.
Heading into his junior season, Harbor said he has a far greater understanding of the wide receiver position and can play anywhere for South Carolina — on the outside, in the slot, on the wing, at tight end. He’s also expanded his route tree.
“I’m capable of running the routes,” Harbor said on the podcast. “I’m not just a go route runner, a post route runner. I can run any route on the route tree now. That’s what I did to myself to help my offensive coaches. … made it easier for them to find ways for them to give me the ball.”
Harbor clarified that he’s not looking for a specific number of targets and is ready to do anything to help USC win in 2025, including perimeter blocking (something else he takes pride in). But he’s not shy about wanting to become the No. 1 target for quarterback LaNorris Sellers in what could be a special year for the Gamecocks.
South Carolina (9-4, 5-3 SEC last year) ranked No. 12 in ESPN’s post-spring Way Too Early Top 25 and is considered a legit 12-team College Football Playoff contender.
“I want the ball in my hands, because I know I can make a difference,” Harbor said.
Despite averaging just 22.8 receiving yards per game for his career, Harbor has already drawn some buzz as a 2026 NFL Draft sleeper from media outlets such as Pro Football Focus because of his rare combination of size and speed.
The only player to be ranked No. 1 on The Athletic’s “Freaks List” two years in a row, Harbor is a draft-eligible junior after this season. Another one of his goals for this fall are to record the best single season by a receiver in Gamecocks history.
“That’s what I’m setting out to be,” Harbor said on the podcast. “And that’s the decision I’ve made: Every day, I put in the work to become who I want to be.”
“If I’ve gotta get up at 5 o’clock in the morning and leave the facility at 7 o’clock at night … I’m gonna do that, because that’s what I set out to do.”
