Top football recruit Nyckoles Harbor ‘felt great about the visit’ to South Carolina

Phil Kornblut
Sam Wolfe/Special To The State

South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer used the backdrop of the biggest home game of the season Saturday to host the highest acclaimed recruit on the Gamecock board, DE/TE Nyckoles Harbor of Washington, DC.

Beamer must have felt the risk of losing big to the defending national champions in front of a major prospect would be outweighed by the experience Harbor would have with a loud, supportive crowd inside Williams-Brice Stadium.

Beamer rolled the dice, and they came up seven.

“He said everything was great,” Archbishop Carroll head coach Robert Harris said Sunday night after talking with Harbor for about 10 minutes. “He said the atmosphere was great. He said he loved his visit. He got to talk to some academic folks. He said the visit was really first class. He was excited about the crowd, the fanbase, the support that the school has and the academic environment.”

Asked if the one-sided loss to the Dogs made the Gamecocks damaged goods in Harbor’s eyes, his coach replied: “No. We had talked about it before, but he was really amazed at the fanbase. I told him they have one of the greatest fanbases in the country. He got to see it firsthand. Even in a loss, he said, the fans were great. Everybody was receptive. He said he felt like everybody knew that he was there, and they received him well. He felt great about the visit.”

This coming weekend, Harbor will take his official visit to Michigan, leaving Washington on Saturday morning. Harris said Harbor does not have any other official visits scheduled at the moment. The other schools on his short list are Georgia, LSU, Southern Cal, Maryland and Miami.

Harbor does not have a decision date, Harris said. That could come at one of two January all-star games, Under Armour or Polynesian, or he might hold off until the February signing day.

Recruiting news and notes

  • WR Tyler Williams of Lakeland, Florida told Chad Simmons of On3 he’s focused on USC, Miami and Georgia with his announcement coming Sept. 29.

  • USC DT target Elijah Davis of East Mississippi Community College visited Alabama on Saturday.

  • USC 2024 CB commitment Karson Hobbs of Cincinnati visited Notre Dame Saturday and was offered by the Irish. He is planning to be at USC this Saturday for the Charlotte game.

  • USC offered 2024 athlete Daniel Hill (6-1, 200) of Meridian, Mississippi and 2025 LB Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng of Manassas, Virginia.

  • 2024 QB Jayden Bradford of Chapin and IMG Academy made it into USC Saturday for the Georgia game. Other confirmed late additions to the visitors’ list were 2024 DB Braydon Lee of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, 2025 WR Benjamin Street of Richmond and 2025 QB Jack Callahan of Richmond.

  • USC basketball target Cam Scott of Lexington from the 2024 class was offered Sunday night by Kansas. Jayhawk coaches were in to see him on Sunday.

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