Graduate transfer Nick Harvey hopes to finish strong in final season
As South Carolina trotted its first secondary unit onto the practice field for a drill at its first practice Friday, there was a new face lining up at the left cornerback spot.
As rare as it is for a newcomer to be ready to make an immediate impact at the major college level, it's nearly unheard of to add a ready-made SEC player to the roster.
With the addition of Texas A&M transfer Nick Harvey, defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson adds a veteran with multiple years of starting experience.
"It's very, very nice," Robinson said. "It's comforting to see that guy that's got experience at punt returning. I mean you've got a guy that's got experience at corner. A guy that's played in big ball games and won big ball games. We're excited about him and he's doing a really good job and can't wait to see him go."
Robinson first laid eyes on Harvey years ago. At the time, Robinson was an assistant at Texas Tech and Harvey was a freshman defensive back in Lancaster, Texas. Harvey would ultimately blossom into a four-star prospect, ranked the No.9 safety in his class, and sign with Texas A&M out of Travis High School.
Harvey saw action in every single game during his first two seasons in College Station before earning a starting job as a junior and leading the team in pass breakups with 10. A major knee injury forced the 5-foot-10, 190-pounder to miss all of last season before he made the decision to seek a new start for his final year of eligibility.
That's when the prior relationship with Robinson paid dividends as he chose to transfer to South Carolina over offers from Auburn, Arizona, Oklahoma State and Tennessee.
"The relationship that I have with T-Rob and Coach Muschamp [was the biggest factor]," Harvey said. "I know they're both defensive-minded guys. They put a lot of passion into it and I love the way they coach the defense."
Harvey, who says he feels 100 percent, is capable of playing cornerback, nickelback or safety and says he's comfortable at all three.
It appears the current plan is for Harvey to play cornerback, allowing for senior Keisean Nixon to slide to the nickelback position.
"He's got to continue to learn what we're doing," Robinson said. "We're a little different than what they were doing and he's got to learn some of the different words. For him, the hardest part for a guy like that is they called it one thing and it's the exact same thing but we called it this. Trying to put that in his mind and make it make sense to him. He's continuing to get better at that and he'll continue to do that."
Harvey, too, is confident that with his multiple years of playing defense in the SEC that he'll pick up the defense just fine.
He's appeared in 38 games, including 13 starts at cornerback in his career, collecting 109 tackles and 14 pass break ups with one interception and also owns one punt return for a touchdown.
"For the most part it's been a good transition," Harvey said Thursday. "The only complicated part early on was probably learning the defense. But now I feel like I've got a good grasp of it and I feel like I'm ready to go."
Harvey joins what he calls a "brotherhood" at South Carolina. He'll look to make an immediate impact as Robinson and Co. try to replace three senior starting defensive backs from last season.
Harvey has played in Williams-Brice Stadium once before when Texas A&M defeated the Gamecocks 24-13 in 2016. Wearing a different shade of red at the time, Harvey remembers the fans being "crazy" and the atmosphere being loud.
In less than four weeks, he'll put on a garnet game jersey and enter the playing field from the home sideline of Williams-Brice for the first time.
"This is it, my senior year," Harvey says. "My dad always talked to me about finishing, so if I finish well I feel like I'll put myself in a good position as far as the NFL and then also, I just want to win a national championship. I know this team is capable of doing it and we've just got to take it one game at a time."