A season that began with talk about bowl paths has turned into something more introspective for Shane Beamer and the South Carolina football team.
After the brutal 31-30 collapse against Texas A&M erased any realistic postseason hopes, the head coach admitted he’s already had “a lot of good conversations” with players about coming back to Columbia in 2026, stressing that many of them genuinely love being Gamecocks and want to be part of the program’s reset rather than flee from it.
More immediately, though, the focus shifts to Clemson and the chance to salvage pride in the Palmetto Bowl. That is where some long-awaited good news comes in.
As On3 reported, the South Carolina football team held out two of its most important playmakers, receiver Nyck Harbor and edge rusher Dylan Stewart, for the tune-up win over Coastal Carolina. Both absences were precautionary, designed to buy an extra week of recovery rather than push them through lingering issues.
“Nyck and Dylan should be good for next week,” Beamer said after the game, noting that Harbor wasn’t fully cleared but had recently been running at high speed in workouts. The staff is “hopeful that he’ll be fine for next Saturday,” a clear sign they’ve been managing his hamstring carefully with Clemson in mind.
Harbor’s return would immediately change the offense’s ceiling. He was one of the few bright spots in the Texas A&M meltdown, exploding for three catches, 102 yards, and that 80-yard score before everything unraveled.
Stewart, meanwhile, gives the defense a sorely needed pass-rush presence against a Tigers attack that will test South Carolina’s front for four quarters.
Harbor has been in the spotlight for more than just big plays. During that same Texas A&M game, cameras caught a tense moment when a Texas state trooper appeared to bump him and another player in the tunnel and then point back toward Harbor.
Beamer said afterward he hadn’t seen the incident live but praised Texas A&M for quickly removing the officer from game duty, calling the home operation “first-class” and thanking them for handling it the right way.
Between a rivalry date with Clemson, a healthier depth chart, and Beamer’s push to keep his core together for 2026, the program suddenly has something to sell beyond this year’s record: a chance for players like Harbor and Stewart to turn hard lessons into the foundation of what comes next.
