COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Gamecocks have signed their highest-rated football recruit in years, as Nyckoles Harbor has agreed to join Shane Beamer’s team.
Harbor made his decision Wednesday afternoon, which was also National Signing Day, which is when recruits are supposed to sign with their school of choice.
Harbor, who’s from the Washington, D.C. area, is the number one athlete in the nation and number 19 prospect overall according to 247Sports, a national recruiting website. ESPN had him rated the number 39 prospect. Depending on which recruiting service you look at he’s either a four or five star prospect.
Harbor had elected not to sign with a school during the early signing period in December, which is now when most recruits sign on to a college program. While USC was always high on his list, he was reportedly also considering Maryland, Oregon, and Michigan. In fact, even as recently as Wednesday morning, Rivals was still forecasting him to go to Oregon.
He’s considered the highest-ranked prospect to sign with the Gamecocks since Jordan Burch of Columbia joined the school in 2020. It’s another big recruiting win for Beamer, who just recently got a commitment from Kam Proctor, considered to be the best offensive lineman in the 2024 class who’s from Dorchester, SC.
The reason for the excitement is obvious: Harbor is 6 feet, 5 inches tall but is fast. In fact, he’s also expected to run track at South Carolina.
Beamer said at a news conference Wednesday about the signing class that Harbor is expected to play both tight end and receiver. On Twitter he joked that the reason Harbor wanted to come to Columbia was because he lost a foot race to Beamer last July and wanted a rematch.
Gamecock quarterback Spencer Rattler, a former five-star recruit himself, couldn’t contain his happiness online either.
“BOOM. Time to work fam! Congrats 100%,” he wrote to Harbor onTwitter.