As the South Carolina football team begins summer workouts, wide receivers coach Mike Furrey took a moment to talk to GamecockCentral to share his thoughts on the receiver room, the progress of standout returners, incoming freshmen, and the upcoming season.
100 Days Until Kickoff: "It's coming fast"
When asked if 100 days until the Gamecock' season opener against Virginia Tech feels far away, Furrey expressed just how quickly time is moving.
“I remember when Coach Beamer put up something in the facility when it was close to 200 days left and it felt like yesterday. So, it’s coming fast," Furrey said. "And just got off the road here yesterday from recruiting for the last month, and now we get settled in with our guys here, coming back into the campus on Monday, and we got a lot of work ready to do before we show up in August, September.”
Message to Freshmen: "How fast can you become a veteran?"
Furrey's challenge to the incoming receivers has been short and crystal clear: hit the ground running.
“My message the whole time was—how fast can you become a veteran in this program? You’ve had four months now to be in our system, you’ve been in our weight program, you’ve done well in academics and obviously with spring ball. So you have a lot of experience already to get ready for the season. And so, my message to them the whole time has really been to all of them, how fast can you guys get up to speed to allow you to go play with a better mentality here when you come back in May."
Returning Talent Rising to the Challenge in 2025
Most of the attention lately has been on the freshman class for the Gamecocks, but Furrey emphasized the jump that returning receivers such as Jared Brown, Nyck Harbor, Mazeo Bennett, and Vandrevius Jacobs have made.
"You're talking about four guys that have absolutely taken their games, maybe not just to the next level but beyond. And I know there’s a lot of talk about Nyck Harbor and the spring that he had. I’ll be the first one to tell you Nyck Harbor looked like a football player this last spring, and that’s exciting," Furrey said.
"Mazeo Bennett looks better than what he looked like in the fall. Vandrevius Jacobs again, you know, we know his skill set when he came in from his previous school and you look out this spring and he’s making probably the second or third most consistent guy and most productive guy in the room and finished it off with an almost 100-yard game in the spring game."
Furrey continued, "We all know about Jared Brown. I think Jared Brown has the potential to be one of the most dangerous football players when he has the ball in his hands and that’s kind of been his rap ever since he’s been in college. And we saw that against Missouri when he took the one or two yard screen for 40, 50 yards for touchdown."
"And so for all those guys, I think the best thing that’s happened to those guys is they’ve been in our system. But at the same time, you’ve got a lot of good freshmen coming in. These guys are respected and these freshmen have shown up fearless and wanting to learn and they’ve got out and made a lot of plays in the spring. And it’s going to create a lot of competitiveness in your room."
Furrey added that the incoming freshmen have raised the bar when it comes to competition as well as the camaraderie among the team. "But coolest part about all of it, I will tell you, is all 10 of those guys are, they’re all friends. They all respect each other. There’s a lot of energy in that room. And that creates confidence in our room and that continuity and so it’s helped all of them. But definitely excited about the returners."
Nyck Harbor's Growth and Leadership
There is a lot of interest surrounding Harbor, and heading into the 2025 season, Furrey says the sophomore receiver is ready to match expectation with execution.
"Experience will always help you. And expectations without experience, a lot of times will hurt you as a player. And because now you got to live up to some expectations of stuff you’ve never done before. And I think when you look out past this season, I think it was a growth throughout the entire season," Furrey said. "Coming in last fall, there was a lot of unknown and not really how to do things. And I think as the season went on, the more productive he became and the more confident he became and I think the more excited he was for the offseason, which was the decision not to run track, was the decision to be around football 100%, all the time. He’s happy. He’s in a great spot right now mentally about his game and excited to get him back here on campus and watch him continue to grow, not just as a player now but as a leader, too. Because again, when you’re 6’6”, 250, and you run a 10 (second) 100, everybody’s going to look up to you to see what you’re doing. And he’s got a great attitude, a great mindset.
I’ll tell you guys here, nobody really knows this, but when the first day those freshmen showed up in December, we kind of took them out on the field and started walking through some formations. And there was one guy that walked out there and tried to start helping all those kids understand where to line up, how to line up, what the plays were, what the concepts were. And it was Nyck Harbor.
So he also has some leadership qualities in him that he’s starting to believe in what he’s doing to help other people. And I think it’s all that culmination of everything has allowed him to be where he’s at today."
Looking Forward
With a combination of veteran leadership and anxious newcomers, South Carolina's wide receiver room is shaping up to be one of the most competitive units on the roster. As summer workouts warm up, Coach Furrey's message is clear: the standard is high, and the Gamecocks are ready to meet it.