On3 Roundtable: Tap the brakes, Nyckoles Harbor is not the ‘typical five-star’

Expectations are typically high for five-star freshmen as they begin their college football careers. However, Wes Mitchell of GamecockCentral wants to make sure South Carolina fans have fair expectations for five-star athlete Nyckoles Harbor as he enters his freshman season.

Harbor signed with South Carolina in February, choosing the Gamecocks over 70 other schools, including Oregon, Maryland and Michigan.

He was rated as a five-star recruit and the No. 21 overall player in the country, according to the On3 Industry rankings. Harbor is without a doubt extremely talented, but he is also somewhat raw as a receiver, having played a lot of defense during his high school career.

“We’ve tried to tell fans on GamecockCentral, ‘Hey, be excited about this guy, but also let’s be realistic,’” Mitchell told On3’s J.D. Pickell on the On3 Roundtable. “He’s not your typical five-star guy in that his upside is absolutely through the roof. However, he does not have the football playing experience that most of your five-star guys do.”

In addition to spending time on defense during his high school career, Harbor also played some tight end. He does have some experience playing receiver but not a ton as he was used all over the field at Archbishop Carroll High in Washington, DC.

Harbor is big, fast and strong but he has to learn the details of playing the receiver position as his career goes along at South Carolina.

“Six-foot-5, 230 pounds, runs like a 10.2 100 (meter). I mean an absolute freak of nature,” Mitchell said. “But there are some things where as far as like the techniques of playing wide receiver, playing on this big stage. A lot of his career to this point, a lot of what people know about him is from what he’s done on the track. So I think it will be important for South Carolina to kind of slot him into a role where he can get comfortable early on.”

As Mitchell alluded to, Harbor was also a track star in high school and will run track at South Carolina. While there are certainly aspects of track that carry over to the football field, that also means that he spent time training for track instead of training for football in high school, and he will continue to do that in college.

The upside for Harbor is huge, and he should eventually develop into an outstanding player and offensive weapon at South Carolina. But Mitchell warns that it might not happen immediately.

“I don’t think this is going to be a guy that’s just going to roll out there and be a starter Day 1. I think it’s more about putting him on the field situationally, using his speed to maybe take the top off of a defense and just getting him comfortable out there,” Mitchell said.

“If they can find a role for him, I think he can help this team in 2023. But again, we’re trying to sort of set those expectations accurately and fairly for what fans should expect from Nyck Harbor this year.”