South Carolina schedules final pitch for 5-star recruit before national signing day
Update: South Carolina completed its in-home visit with Nyckoles Harbor late Wednesday night, according to a report from On3 Sports. Gamecock Central reported that USC moved up its in-home visit up a day to accommodate Harbor’s travel plans, as he’s leaving “earlier than anticipated” for his weekend official visit to Oregon.
The South Carolina football team is making a final pitch to five-star 2023 recruit Nyckoles Harbor later this week.
And the Gamecocks are going all out.
According to a report from The Big Spur, USC is sending five coaches – nearly half of its on-field staff – to Washington, D.C., on Thursday for an in-home visit with the country’s No. 18 overall recruit ahead of his commitment ceremony during next week’s National Signing Day.
Head coach Shane Beamer, offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains, special teams coordinator Pete Lembo, defensive ends coach Sterling Lucas and tight ends coach Jody Wright will all be on site Thursday to court the Archbishop Carroll High School star, per the report.
That speaks to the program-altering power of Harbor, a two-way football standout and track star who ranks as the No. 1 athlete recruit in the 247Sports composite (which factors in multiple websites’ rankings) and could play defensive end or tight end in college.
Harbor, listed at 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds, is scheduled to announce his commitment next Wednesday, Feb. 1, during National Signing Day. He’s one of only two recruits among the 247Sports composite top 50 who chose not to sign early with a school in December.
Earlier this month, Harbor told On3 Sports that his top five schools were Maryland, South Carolina, Southern Cal, Oregon and Michigan.
“The main three factors going into the decision are academics, athletics and track,” Harbor told the site. “That’s it.”
He added of South Carolina: “It’s a great up-and-coming program. You see that the program is going to be strong. Coach Beamer is doing something good down there.”
Nyckoles Harbor top schools
Harbor officially visited South Carolina, Michigan and Maryland last fall.
He’s also taking his final official visit to Oregon this weekend after Ducks coaches visited him in-home Monday.
Oregon is gaining some momentum with that late push. The Ducks currently hold a Rivals FutureCast to land Harbor’s commitment next week – as of Wednesday, that’s the only formal prediction from a national reporter for him across 247Sports, Rivals and On3 Sports.
Harbor’s father also shot down rumors Monday his son was visiting Colorado, where new coach Deion Sanders just flipped No. 1 cornerback recruit Cormani McClain from Miami. Sanders previously flipped No. 1 cornerback recruit Travis Hunter from Florida State when he was coaching at Jackson State.
Hunter has since transferred to Colorado.
Despite Nyckoles Harbor posting an Instagram story Monday geo-tagging his location as Boulder, Colorado, his father, Azuka Harbor, told 247Sports his son was “nowhere near Colorado” and was in D.C. ahead of his Monday night in-home visit with Oregon.
South Carolina sent numerous staff members to Lubbock, Texas, last week to watch Harbor compete in the Under Armour High School Classic track meet. While there, he ran the 60-meter dash in 6.66 seconds, the fastest mark in the United States.
Harbor, a top target of the Gamecocks for well over a year, had 439 receiving yards and five touchdowns as well as 16.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks as a senior at Archbishop Carroll. He was named Washington, D.C., Gatorade Player of the Year for a second straight season.
Harbor would be the first five-star prospect Beamer’s landed at South Carolina. If South Carolina were to secure his pledge, he’d be the program’s first five-star signee since defensive end Jordan Burch in 2020 and first out of state five-star recruit in the modern era (since 2000).
Last month, South Carolina signed a 22-player class of 2023 that ranked No. 16 nationally and No. 7 in the SEC, per the 247Sports composite. During his early signing day news conference, Beamer gave Harbor a subtle shout-out.
“There’s also guys, I’m sure, that don’t sign today that are waiting to make decisions in February,” he said. “A lot of people know one in particular who I’m referring to, and then there’s some other ones out there as well.”
This story was originally published January 25, 2023 at 8:00 AM.
