Why Texas A&M grad transfer Nick Harvey picked the Gamecocks (and the plan for him)

The USC 2018 football recruiting class is now whole. There were two holes in the 25-man class available after the February signing day. One was filled with Rice grad transfer safety J.T. Ibe in March. And the other was filled today by Texas A&M grad transfer cornerback Nick Harvey who announced on Twitter a decision to be No. 25 in the class.

Harvey took official visits to USC, Tennessee, Arizona and Auburn. He also considered Florida and Oklahoma State. He said with the new coaching staff at A&M and after missing the 2017 season with a knee injury, now was a good time to go elsewhere for his final season.

"I felt like South Carolina is the best fit for me," Harvey said. "After taking all the visits that I took I felt like it was the best fit for me. Being able to sit down with T-Rob (Travaris Robinson) and Coach Muschamp, it was a great visit with them. I know they finished (second) in the SEC East last year, and I just want to come in and help the team win some more games. One person can't really change the whole team because it's a team sport but it seems like I can contribute to winning more games."

And according to Harvey, Muschamp and Robinson plan to throw him right into the fire.

"The plan is to have me at the other corner spot opposite of (Rashad) Fenton then moving Keisean Nixon to the nickel. They just like the way I play the game and the confidence that I have on the field and then the swagger I show when actually playing the game. It's a lot of things that they said but I feel like they were happy to have me come along."

Harvey is a native of Richmond, Texas and was nationally recruited in the class of 2014. In his first two seasons in College Station, Harvey played in every game though he nearly transferred to Oklahoma after his freshman season. He became a starter in his junior season of 2016 and 66 tackles with 10 passes defended.

A knee injury last spring and subsequent surgery forced Harvey to the sideline for all of the 2017 season. He used that as a redshirt year leaving him one season of eligibility for 2018.

"I actually got cleared to if I wanted to play in the bowl game but that would have burned my year so I chose not to," Harvey said. "I feel like my knee is as good as new. It feels like I got a new knee. I've been doing everything like lifting weights, doing DB drills, jumping running, just feel like I'm ready to go."

For his career with the Aggies, Harvey had 109 tackles with 14 defended passes, 1 interception and 1 fumble recovery.

Harvey has actually played in two games at Williams-Brice Stadium. In fact, he played the first game of his career as a true freshman in Columbia in 2014. In the 2016 game won by the Aggies, Harvey was the starter at left corner and had 5 tackles. He has seven career tackles against the Gamecocks.

Harvey said he will arrive in Columbia the end of this month or the first week in June.

This story was originally published May 3, 2018 at 9:59 AM with the headline "Why Texas A&M grad transfer Nick Harvey picked the Gamecocks (and the plan for him)."