South Carolina’s Nyck Harbor shifts focus to football, pauses track pursuits

By Chris Marler

South Carolina sophomore wide receiver Nyck Harbor has decided to make football his primary focus this offseason, according to head coach Shane Beamer. 

Harbor skipped spring football workouts last offseason to focus on track. A two-sport star in high school from Washington, D.C., he won state titles in the 100- and 200-meter events and set state records in both. Harbor spent last spring trying to qualify for the Olympics. However, he will spend this spring working with the football program ahead of his junior season. 

“He’s solely focusing on football right now and that was Nyck’s decision,” Beamer said. “That was something that he talked to us about. We had some conversations around the bowl, after the bowl, within the last couple of weeks, as far as what he wanted to do.”

“I think he realized that he did a lot of good things in track last year but missing spring practice — I don’t want to say set him back, but it was more of a challenge to be ready for the season. I think he just wanted to really focus on football, not that track is over but right now, that’s where his focus is, is just football.”

Harbor was called the rarest jumbo athlete we’ve seen as a recruit by On3 when he came out of high school. The 6-foot-5 240 pound wideout was the No. 21 player in the country and the No. 1 athlete in the 2022 class.