South Carolina wide receiver 'gave up one love to chase another' ahead of 2025 season

When wide receiver Nyck Harbor entered the 2024 offseason, the rising junior had a decision to make. Continue splitting time between football and track and field? Or, focus solely on becoming the star receiver that head coach Shane Beamer needs at South Carolina.

In the end, the two-time Gatorade Boys Track and Field Player of the Year in the District of Columbia chose football.

Heading into this spring, Harbor chose to forgo participating in South Carolina’s outdoor track and field season, giving him his first full year dedicated to football. He also skipped the indoor season. 2025 marked the first time Harbor participated in spring practice since joining the Gamecocks in 2023.

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The decision came after a sophomore season that saw Harbor catch a career-high 26 passes for 376 yards. Among all returning players, Harbor tops the list in receiving yards during 2024.

He feels comfortable entering his junior season with the Gamecocks after a full offseason of work, Harbor said.

“I finally had a whole year to learn the position, to be with Coach (Mike) Furrey, to be with the guys,” Harbor said in July. “You know, day by day I’m just trying to learn something that I didn’t know yesterday.”

Harbor only recently transitioned to playing wide receiver when he arrived on campus at South Carolina. During his time at Archbishop Carroll High School, Harbor played defensive end and tight end.

In 2024, Harbor was invited to the USA Track & Field Olympic Trials ahead of the Paris Olympics. Head coach Shane Beamer recognized that giving up Olympic-level potential for football wasn’t easy.

“He’s not just your everyday, ‘I’m gonna go run the track team and have a good college career.’ Like he could have run in the Olympics,” Beamer said. “And to give that up, to solely focus on football, that’s hard to give up one of those loves. And what I’ve seen is him give up that love and then pour all that energy and emotion and just pour it into football.”

Harbor shared parts of his journey in giving up track for football with some of the players recently, Beamer said.

Harbor’s work ethic since fully committing to football is also something that has not gone unnoticed. Beamer said he can see his improvement and has a great mindset on and off the field.

“He’s having fun out there. You can see it. Just the plays he makes,” Beamer said. “Special teams, he’s another one we watch him cover kicks as well. So he’s a big guy that can run, as you guys know, and he’s worked really, really hard, and I’m proud of him, because that’s not an easy decision to make.”

His work ethic also hasn’t gone unnoticed by his fellow receivers, Mazeo Bennett said.

“I’m so happy for him. I’m so proud of him, just seeing him every day,” Bennett said. “When he put down track, a lot of people don’t know, but I mean, that was his love, you know? He put down one love to go chase another love, and for him to do that and put in the work and tune in on his small details and stuff, it’s just so, so happy for us to see as a wide receiver room.”

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