Shane Beamer outlines plan for two-sport athlete Nyck Harbor this spring

Nyck Harbor will be a busy man this spring.

The South Carolina sophomore will be juggling spring football practice and his duties on the Gamecocks’ outdoor track and field team. USC football coach Shane Beamer outlined what Harbor’s schedule might look like after the first spring practice on Tuesday.

Harbor didn’t practice Tuesday but stood close to Beamer for much of the time.

“He was out there today, for the most part, watching,” Beamer said. “During a lot of the practice parts, he was standing next to me getting the signal from the sideline or listening to the play-call in the huddle, and then telling me what his assignment would be on that play and all that.”

Beamer said Harbor will be with the team as much as his class and track schedule allows him over the next month. He has class on Tuesdays and Thursdays when the Gamecocks have scheduled practices but it is flexible to allow him to be there for most mornings.

On the other three days, he will be in meetings and at the football facility as much as he can.

“His primary focus right now is track, win championships for our track team and there is also Summer Olympics coming up as well, which I do believe is a real possibility for him potentially,” Beamer said. “... We won’t have him there practicing necessarily and getting hit where it prevents him from running in a track meet on a Saturday. But like I told him out there on the field today, I want him to be the greatest track student-athlete he could be this spring and win championships. But I want him to get better as a football player without him taking away from track.”

Harbor discussed his busy schedule last month after an indoor meet at USC.

“At first it was kind of hard, but now it’s just a normal day. I signed up for this,” he told The State last month. “This is what I wanted and I’m getting the full distance of it.”

Harbor was a five-star football prospect coming out of Archbishop Carroll High School and the fifth-highest-rated recruit to commit to South Carolina since 2010 — trailing only Jadeveon Clowney, Marcus Lattimore, Zacch Pickens and Jordan Burch.

Harbor was regarded as one of the top sprinters in the country in high school and was a two-time Gatorade Boys Track & Field Player of the Year in the District of Columbia in 2021-22.

Harbor finished fifth in the 200-meter and eighth in the 60-meter at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships last month. In his first outdoor meet, he won the 200 meters with a time of 20.86 at last weekend’s Alan Connie Shamrock Invitational at Coastal Carolina.

The Gamecocks host the Weems Baskin Invitational on Friday and Saturday.

On the football field, Harbor played in all 12 games and made five starts. He finished with 12 catches for 195 yards and a touchdown.