Last season, the South Carolina Gamecocks finished with a record of 9-4, ranking 15th in the CFP Top 25 and eighth in the SEC. Much of their success was thanks to their stellar defense, with three of those defenders being drafted in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Safety Nick Emmanwori, linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. and defensive tackle T.J. Sanders will all surely be missed. Additionally, they had one of the most fearsome pass-rushing duos in all of college football. Kyle Kennard had 11.5 sacks throughout the year, and Dylan Stewart was arguably the scariest young edge player in college.
While the offense was effective, it was mostly carried by one man, dual-threat quarterback LaNorris Sellers. His passing stats don’t necessarily look tremendous at first glance, throwing for only 2,534 yards and 18 touchdowns.
However, it’s actually rather impressive considering he threw around 200 fewer passes than many of the other top college quarterbacks, such as Garrett Nussmeier and Cade Klubnik. That’s because he was such an effective rushing threat, and South Carolina let him run. He ran for 674 yards and seven touchdowns in 2024. The combination of his dual-threat ability, his massive arm, and impressive size at 6’3” and weighing 240 lbs, reminds many draft analysts of Ben Roethlisberger, Josh Allen, and Daunte Culpepper.
Even though the Gamecocks lost four of their best players to the 2025 NFL Draft, they are still projected to be incredibly competitive in the SEC. They are a sneaky pick to finish in the top five in their conference, and some experts even pick them to make the College Football Playoff. Some of their younger players will need to take a huge leap to live up to these lofty expectations, particularly LaNorris Sellers. However, the weight of the hopes and dreams of this team isn’t solely on LaNorris’s shoulders. The brunt of the weight might actually need to be carried by wide receiver Nyck Harbor. He’s poised to be the number one target for LaNorris, but from what we’ve seen so far, he has a lot of work to do.
Who is Nyck Harbor?
Nyck Harbor is easily one of the freakiest athletes the college football landscape has ever seen. His size is reminiscent of another large wide receiver, NFL Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson, as Nyck stands at 6-foot-5 and weighs 235 lbs. What’s crazy is that his size is not even the most impressive part about him. It’s his speed and overall athleticism. As a high school athlete, he was a two-time Gatorade Boys Track & Field Player of the Year and played football as both a tight end and an edge rusher. He was recruited as the 15th overall player and the number one athlete in the class of 2023.
While at South Carolina, he finished fifth in the SEC in the indoor track and field championship in the 200m and 60m dash. In the 2024 outdoor track season, he ran a 10.11s 100m dash and a 20.20s 200m dash, ranking third and second all-time in program history, respectively. These are incredible times, especially for his size. He ultimately decided to end his track and field career to focus on football.
Scouting report for South Carolina's new weapon
Nyck Harbor is a junior wide receiver for the South Carolina Gamecocks. He has seen fairly limited snaps and targets in both of his seasons of play. In 2023, he had only 195 receiving yards and one touchdown. Although we saw a slight improvement in the following season, he still left a lot on the table. In 2024, he had 376 yards and three touchdowns. Even in the limited time we’ve seen of him on the field, he’s shown tremendous promise. His track speed routinely shows on the field and can be an excellent deep threat. His massive catch radius certainly helps in contested catch situations, and he can high-point the ball above all opposing defenders. What’s surprising is that he’s quite nimble, agile, and can hit the brakes pretty quickly, especially considering his size. Nyck has all the tools to become the most feared weapon in college football.
However, he’s not without his flaws. His hands aren’t the most reliable. Across his career, he’s caught only 61.3 percent of his targets, 50 percent of his contested catches and has four drops. His routes are also unrefined, which makes sense considering how difficult it can be for someone of his size to change direction. Perhaps these factors are the reasons why the ball hasn’t come his way too often, as he had only 20 targets in 2023 and 42 targets in 2024. To give some context, typically, top college receivers see 100 targets or more in a season. In short, he’s raw and needs to refine his game.
What South Carolina needs from Nyck Harbor
The Gamecocks will be asking a lot more from Nyck Harbor as he will likely become the top pass-catching target with the team losing tight end Joshua Simon and running back Raheim Sanders to the NFL Draft. It wouldn’t surprise me if South Carolina becomes more dependent on their passing game. Don’t be shocked if LaNorris ends up throwing the ball close to 400 times next season, with 80 or more of those throws heading Nyck Harbor’s way.
Considering how much of a bigger role Nyck is projected to get, he’s going to need to become his quarterback’s security blanket. He will have to work on his catching mechanics, aim to catch at least 65% of his targets and 60% of his contested catches. His route running is going to need to be a lot crisper, with much sharper cuts, if he wants South Carolina to give him their trust. While he doesn’t have to become the best wide receiver in college football, he will need to become more productive. Perhaps he should set himself a goal of over 800 receiving yards and six touchdowns. If he manages to do it, the South Carolina Gamecocks will certainly be one step closer to making the playoffs.