South Carolina fans can’t decide what position Nyck Harbor should play
Published:
No one seems to know what position South Carolina wideout Nyck Harbor should actually play.
On one hand, the 6-foot-5, 235-pound junior has elite track speed and the size of your favorite NFL receiver’s favorite receiver. On the other hand, he has struggled with consistency through the first 2-plus years of his college career.
Harbor caught 12 passes for 195 yards and a touchdown as a true freshman in 2023. As a breakout candidate in 2024, Harbor started 8 times and played the most snaps of any receiver on the team, but he made just 26 receptions for 376 yards. Per PFF, he had 3 drops as a freshman, and that issue popped up again Sunday afternoon during South Carolina’s season-opener against Virginia Tech.
In the first quarter, Harbor dropped a second-and-10 pass that might have moved the chains.
Then, late in the second quarter, Harbor did not secure a catch in the endzone long enough for the officiating crew to deem it a touchdown and South Carolina had 6 points taken off the board.
Harbor had 2 catches for 35 yards on 6 first-half targets.
It’s obvious why South Carolina would want to utilize him as a wide receiver. Very few defenders have the combination of size and speed to hang with him and defend a ball if it’s placed in the right spot. But some South Carolina fans and more than a few college football writers wonder if flipping Harbor over to the other side of the ball would be more fruitful.
As a twitchy pass-rusher opposite Dylan Stewart, would Harbor blossom?
A number of folks seem to think so.
x
x
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
