SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA DAYS

July 21, 2026

Nyck Harbor

South Carolina Gamecocks

Press Conference

Q. After a disappointing year last year, what gives you confidence about this year's team?

NYCK HARBOR: What gives me confidence is just the way the team has rebounded in the sense that, okay, we went 4-8 last year. But this year is a whole new year. We're not doing anything that we did last year.

There's a whole lot of new things in the building. So it's just a whole new identity. We worked harder than we did last year. We did more stuff as a team.

So I just feel like everybody's just -- we're building up to that standard that we want to live by. And then every single day, we're just coming in, we're working as hard as we can.

Q. You ran track at South Carolina for a couple of years. How does your double athleticism help you become one of the most talked-about wide receivers in the SEC right now?

NYCK HARBOR: I feel like track has paved the way for me to become one of the fastest players in the country. And I think, for me, just doing dual sports it's really just helped me, learn organization, learn time management, because it's a lot of things from going from football to track and then back to track and then trying to do so many things. So I feel like it's just helped me become more of a man than anything.

Q. Who are some of the guys on the team who maybe haven't played much in the past that you think will have bigger roles this fall and could be difference makers for you guys?

NYCK HARBOR: Everybody's really paved their roles. Coach doesn't really like to talk about depth charts and stuff like that.

I really just say everybody. I'm not just going to put one person or two people out there, but I'm just going to speak about if whole team, how the whole team has just put their head down. And no matter if you probably won't play this year or you're a starter from last year, everybody just came in, okay, it's just a new beginning, and we're all just competing with each other just to be the best we can be.

Q. Obviously your team goals are at the top of your list. What individual things do you need to get better at to get the team goals to improve?

NYCK HARBOR: Just being an all-around receiver. Just doing whatever I can to help the team win. And that's been my motto and my goal for myself is just being there for everybody, being there for 16, when 16 puts a ball out there, I'm going to go make a play for him. He calls my number, I'm going to answer. Coach Briles calls my number, I'm going to answer.

Just being there and having a team know we could throw the ball to 8, and 8's gonna come out and make a play.

Q. Your production has increased year after year since you've been at South Carolina coming into this year. Production-wise, do you have any specific goals? Do you want to hit 1,000 yards, or are you just trying to find ways to lead the team's success?

NYCK HARBOR: Just trying to find ways to lead the team's success. I'm doing whatever I can. And, of course, you know you've got your personal goals. And when a team wins, we win as many games as we can, then all my goals are going to come.

Q. Can you talk about the growth of LaNorris Sellers over the offseason and the relationship between receiver and quarterback that you all continue to grow?

NYCK HARBOR: So the first part of that, I mean, he's grown so much over the last year, just going from workouts to the film room. Being in the film room for three to four hours, commanding the team, not just the huddle, but the team.

He's a very quiet guy, very reserved. You won't get a lot out of him off the field. But on the field, he's become that voice that everybody's needed and everybody wants to hear.

He commands practices now. We mess up, he says, okay, we're redoing his rep. Everybody stop, we're gonna redo the rep. I mean, you listen to 16 at some points in time, man, I feel like that's where the better of a quarterback gets, is when you can command your team, you can command the huddle and the coaches give you that respect, and they give you that leeway -- okay, if you feel like this is not this, and you want to redo it, okay, we're going to do redo it. We're going to help you out there.

And just me and him together, I am playing with him now. We came in this together, been playing with him now on the field for three years. Me and him have really just became one brain. And I try to learn the little tendencies of him and what he likes.

And me and him talk so much is now, okay, he listens to me, I listen to him. If I point out something that I seen, okay, he goes back on film and says it or he says okay, I messed up on this. I'm like, oh, no, no, that was me.

Just going back and forth, I mean, that's what the greats do. Like, I'm just going to make him right, just got to make him look good.

Q. Last season was pretty successful for you. Social media labels it as a breakout season. What are you doing, what are you preparing for to keep those expectations high as they were?

NYCK HARBOR: Just working hard. And last season was an amazing season for me. I unlocked a new level of being a receiver, being a deep threat that everybody said I can be. So now just having that confidence of catching touchdowns, getting 100 yards and just feeling very comfortable and making plays with the ball in my hands.

Now, okay, how do I take that and how do I increase it? But it all just goes back to, okay, now they've seen that, now the team needs me to be an all-around threat. So that's what I'm working on.

Q. How do you feel like Coach Briles' offense and the opportunities are going to be in there that are going to help you take that next step again this year?

NYCK HARBOR: Coach Briles is letting us play free. He's letting me play free. A lot of things I do is off of what I see now. So everybody knows what the TCU offense was and how Coach Briles ran his offense. It's fast-paced. It's high octane. It's exciting. But he just lets us play free.

And I think that's just the best thing for us. That's the best thing for me. When I can run a route off of what I see and not just off a piece of paper, then I feel like it's gonna be really dangerous.

Q. What do you remember from that game in College Station last year? I know you individually had a good game, I think it was a career high at the time. But what do you attribute to what happened there in the second half?

NYCK HARBOR: I mean, that game was, in that first half, it was special. We went up, I think, 30-3. The second half, we just didn't execute. That was just on us.

We got too high on ourselves. We seen that we was up big, and we thought they wouldn't come back. But A&M was the No. 2 or 3 team in the country. And they showed us why.

As a team we learned from that, that you can never doubt an opponent. We put up 30 in the first half. We put up 30 again. We put 60 on them. That's the mindset we coming in with this year. We're not letting no foot off the gas.

Q. How would you describe your receiving corps this year and the types of skill sets and types of players that you guys have within it? How would you kind of sum your group up?

NYCK HARBOR: Exciting. Everybody's hardworking. Everybody is looking to be the best of themselves. And when the whole receiving room is like that and everybody just goes out there and they just do remarkable things, they make the best plays.

So when somebody makes a play, okay, the next dude is gonna make a play because you don't want somebody to get a step ahead.

I think that's the best thing about it, is when somebody makes a play, somebody else is gonna make a play. So we just keep making plays and stacking plays.

So at the end of the day, when Coach Beamer, Coach Briles and Coach Furrey decide who plays on Saturday, it's gonna be a hard decision.

Q. Let's go to Saturday night in Columbia. You're standing in the tunnel. The lights are blaring. The Gamecocks fans are screaming you still get goosebumps?

NYCK HARBOR: Oh, for sure. Willy B at night, it's crazy. Just them 82,000 or 83,000, however many people go in that stadium -- they could probably fit more if they wanted to -- but just the Gamecock fans, I feel like we've got the best fans in the nation.

And that's an advantage for us, because every game they make it hard for their opponent. They love us. So that's the best thing. I wouldn't want to play anywhere else.

Q. I'm sure you've had some battles in spring practice with Vicari and Judge in that secondary. How have you seen those guys also working to improve?

NYCK HARBOR: Two amazing DBs, I feel like I go against the best in the best in the conference and in the nation. So just me having both guys on both sides it's not like, okay, you go to one side, it's a step off. No.

Both (indiscernible) are hard. They're both two completely different players. So just for me to learn to be able to go against two different playing styles just helps me better because I feel like I won't see anything better than that.

Q. Growing up in D.C., was there an athlete you looked up growing up? And also Commanders or Ravens guy?

NYCK HARBOR: Commanders guy. But athlete, D.C.? (Audio difficulties).

Q. Do you ever think about following in your dad's footsteps going down the soccer path? And then with the World Cup this past summer, how big of a fan of that were you this summer?

NYCK HARBOR: Yeah, I tried to play soccer when I was 5 or 6, but my dad said I had no coordination, so he shut that down real quick.

About the World Cup, though, it was amazing to watch. Me and my dad, since he's in Maryland and I'm in South Carolina, every game -- we watched the same game. Anytime somebody scored or something big happened, I'd call him and we'll just talk about it. So basically, we're just watching it together without being there with each other. So it was really special for me.