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University of Minnesota Athletics
Football Player Profile: Defensive End Paul Nixon
10/16/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
During his time at Mifflin High School, Nixon was a star athlete in football and track. He was highly recruited in both sports, but in the end, nothing could compare to the Big Ten football he had been watching since he was little. That's how he was able to choose the state of Minnesota over Hawaii. "I always wanted to play against Ohio State and all the Big Ten schools. I figured this would be the best opportunity," Nixon said.
While football has been his main focus over the last five years, the track and field experience Nixon had gained through participation in the 100 and 200 meter as well as the long jump, has helped him tremendously on the gridiron.
"I think it has a lot to do with my speed as far as playing defensive end right now. But in all the different positions I've played too," Nixon commented. "I came in here playing corner and now I play defensive line and it's helped me in everything."
Nixon's overall athletic ability has made him a versatile player for the Golden Gopher defense. He has played everything from special teams to linebacker to defensive back to his current position of defensive end. While it may be challenging to be shuffled around to various areas, he credits personally knowing the responsibilities of each position with increasing his success as a defensive player.
"It's been a good experience for me playing different positions and actually it kind of helped me out because at least now that I play defensive line, I understand everything that's going on behind me with what the linebackers and doing and the strong safeties. And then just looking at formations, I just have a better understand of what's going on overall," Nixon said.
While playing at all those various positions, he has had to put muscle on his 6-1 frame. As a freshman, Nixon walked on to campus weighing 180. Not too intimidating for any defensive position. "I was kind of a small guy, so I was trying to get from 215 pounds and my goal was to at least be 255 this season," he stated. "So that was kind of my goal that I had to keep working on throughout the year. I put on the weight through summer workouts and eating a lot and the weight program we did to get stronger and be able to at least be strong enough to play defensive line."
The commitment Nixon had to invest in gaining weight (he added another 20 pounds this summer to reach 245) and learning various defensive positions was applied to another area this past summer. He, along with the other members of the defensive and offensive corps got together lifting at 6 a.m., summer mornings. In the locker room there was a feeling of unrelenting perseverance to stick to the workout and weight programs. It was nothing that was formally arranged, which may be why it actually worked. It was from the heart of each player wanting to put the best Minnesota team possible on the field.
"It just kind of happened like that," Nixon said. "Everybody knew that if we were going to be a better team, we had to all do the extra work to get better.
"Just the dedication and going through drills and finishing through the line. Just the little things showed that we were much improved and we were serious about being a better defense," he added.
The devotion to improvement can be seen in Nixon and his fellow defensive players. The defense is no longer the weak link in Golden Gopher football. As a senior, Nixon takes satisfaction in being here and knowing he was part of the progress made in that area. "I take a lot of pride in that," he said. "It just shows how far we've come and how much we've worked to show it this year."
Nixon has had to gain substantial weight while proving that his being slightly undersized couldn't hold him back from any defensive position. And Minnesota football is better because of his multi-tooled athleticism and drive to succeed. Good thing Princeton track and field couldn't match Big Ten football.
Written by Media Relations Student Assistant Courtney Walerius. She welcomes comments at gophers@umn.edu.
Paul Nixon could be running the 100 meters for the Princeton track and field team right now. Or the University of Hawaii or Dartmouth, for that matter. But instead the Columbus, Ohio native is lining up on the University of Minnesota as a defensive end. All because he wanted an audience. "I decided that it was a bigger crowd at football," Nixon laughed.
During his time at Mifflin High School, Nixon was a star athlete in football and track. He was highly recruited in both sports, but in the end, nothing could compare to the Big Ten football he had been watching since he was little. That's how he was able to choose the state of Minnesota over Hawaii. "I always wanted to play against Ohio State and all the Big Ten schools. I figured this would be the best opportunity," Nixon said.
While football has been his main focus over the last five years, the track and field experience Nixon had gained through participation in the 100 and 200 meter as well as the long jump, has helped him tremendously on the gridiron.
"I think it has a lot to do with my speed as far as playing defensive end right now. But in all the different positions I've played too," Nixon commented. "I came in here playing corner and now I play defensive line and it's helped me in everything."
Nixon's overall athletic ability has made him a versatile player for the Golden Gopher defense. He has played everything from special teams to linebacker to defensive back to his current position of defensive end. While it may be challenging to be shuffled around to various areas, he credits personally knowing the responsibilities of each position with increasing his success as a defensive player.
"It's been a good experience for me playing different positions and actually it kind of helped me out because at least now that I play defensive line, I understand everything that's going on behind me with what the linebackers and doing and the strong safeties. And then just looking at formations, I just have a better understand of what's going on overall," Nixon said.
While playing at all those various positions, he has had to put muscle on his 6-1 frame. As a freshman, Nixon walked on to campus weighing 180. Not too intimidating for any defensive position. "I was kind of a small guy, so I was trying to get from 215 pounds and my goal was to at least be 255 this season," he stated. "So that was kind of my goal that I had to keep working on throughout the year. I put on the weight through summer workouts and eating a lot and the weight program we did to get stronger and be able to at least be strong enough to play defensive line."
The commitment Nixon had to invest in gaining weight (he added another 20 pounds this summer to reach 245) and learning various defensive positions was applied to another area this past summer. He, along with the other members of the defensive and offensive corps got together lifting at 6 a.m., summer mornings. In the locker room there was a feeling of unrelenting perseverance to stick to the workout and weight programs. It was nothing that was formally arranged, which may be why it actually worked. It was from the heart of each player wanting to put the best Minnesota team possible on the field.
"It just kind of happened like that," Nixon said. "Everybody knew that if we were going to be a better team, we had to all do the extra work to get better.
"Just the dedication and going through drills and finishing through the line. Just the little things showed that we were much improved and we were serious about being a better defense," he added.
The devotion to improvement can be seen in Nixon and his fellow defensive players. The defense is no longer the weak link in Golden Gopher football. As a senior, Nixon takes satisfaction in being here and knowing he was part of the progress made in that area. "I take a lot of pride in that," he said. "It just shows how far we've come and how much we've worked to show it this year."
Nixon has had to gain substantial weight while proving that his being slightly undersized couldn't hold him back from any defensive position. And Minnesota football is better because of his multi-tooled athleticism and drive to succeed. Good thing Princeton track and field couldn't match Big Ten football.
Written by Media Relations Student Assistant Courtney Walerius. She welcomes comments at gophers@umn.edu.
