Derek Nicholson was learning to play linebacker very early in life.
“I grew up in a football family, in particular linebackers,” Nicholson said. “... I grew up playing it my whole life, started when I was four, I was triangle-key reading as a child and I gotta thank my dad for that one. It’s in my blood.”
Growing up with a father, Darrell Nicholson, who was a first-team All-ACC linebacker at North Carolina and went on to play for the New York Giants and Toronto Argonauts in the Canadian Football league, the linebacker position was in Nicholson’s blood.
And his brothers', too.
Derek is one of three of Darrell’s sons who played linebacker in college, starting for two years at Florida State after a standout high school career at Mount Tabor High School in North Carolina.
“Me and my dad are one of very few father-son combinations that made either Parade All-Americans or USA Today All-Americans,” Nicholson said.
In college, Nicholson led Florida State in tackles in his junior and senior seasons, while being put on both the Butkus Award and Chuck Bednarik Award watch lists as a senior. He finished his college career with 207 tackles, 25.5 for loss, 3.0 sacks and two defensive touchdowns.
Nicholson’s original plan was to spend a decade in the NFL, then go into the church ministry, but life had other plans as he was an undrafted free agent who got looks with the Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks, but returned to North Carolina to begin coaching at the high school level in 2011.
“My goal was to play 10-plus years in the NFL … and really start my own ministry in the church, just transition to life after football,” Nicholson said. “But that’s not necessarily how that plan and all worked out. I never grew up wanting to be a coach, but I always wanted to be a part of the game of football. Didn’t know it was going to be in coaching. So when I got done playing, I transitioned to coaching high school first.”
Starting at the high school level has some drawbacks and some advantages, especially for former players. But Nicholson said it taught him a lot about being an educator, which has helped him throughout his coaching career.
“It helped me grow as a teacher,” Nicholson said. “... And just being able to teach and progress, going through the process, and implementing whatever it may be. Starting off in high school a couple of years and transitioning to a graduate assistant, I think that helped me, just as a young coach, it helped me grow. In this journey, you've got to go through steps, you’ve got to go through a progression and that’s the one I started off with.”
After two years at the high school level, the young former linebacker became a graduate assistant at Akron, transferring into the college coaching level for the first time and immediately gaining some extra responsibility.
“Being a teacher is being a teacher, I think that’s the foundation of coaching,” Nicholson said of the transition to the college level. “... Being able to mentor, being able to lead, being organized and being a great communicator and communicating more with people, that doesn’t change. You may go to a different location, you may have on different colors, you may be in a different spot or different role, but those things don’t change.”
When Nicholson got to Akron, working under defensive coordinator and associate head coach Chuck Amato, Nicholson had to take on a big role because of the amount of duties Amato had to fulfill.
“I was forced, as a young coach, as a GA, to run a position room, like, he allowed me to coach the linebackers, Jatavis Brown and Justin March, when I was at the University of Akron,” Nicholson said. “So I ran the room, which was our defense that I played in at Florida State at the time, so that stuff, I had to grow.”
After a year at Akron, Nicholson went to Louisville in 2014, Alcorn State in 2015 and Southern Miss in 2016 to coach on four different staffs in four years, though he did stick with head coach Jay Hopson from Alcorn State to Southern Miss.
“I’ve learned something with each staff, in each journey,” Nicholson said. “And it has molded me to being the coach that I am today, and I appreciate that. Every place has been different.”
He spent four years at Southern Miss as he began to settle into the coaching ranks, but at each stop after Akron, Nicholson was coaching either the defensive line or outside linebackers, positions he didn’t play that forced him out of his comfort zone.
“I was coaching a position I did not play, working with the defensive line and outside linebackers, working more edge mechanics and working more of a technique-based position where techniques are at a premium,” Nicholson said. “I was very uncomfortable doing something that I actually had never experienced before as a football player. So that, in itself, allowed me to grow and to be uncomfortable, to get out of my comfort zone.”
After four years at Southern Miss, Nicholson was able to return, in multiple ways, to more of a comfort zone. He returned to Louisville and to coaching inside linebackers, he would stay with the Cardinals for 2020-2022.
But as is true with anyone working through a coaching career, the changes kept coming for Nicholson as he took the linebackers coach job at Miami for 2023 and added co-defensive coordinator to his job title in 2024.
“When you’re a young coach, you’re trying to, you try to rise up in the coaching industry and move up the ladder,” Nicholson said. “Sometimes you’ve gotta go to different places and you’ve gotta do different things to grow and to move up to accomplish a goal as a coach.”
Now, Nicholson will join a Missouri staff that lost DJ Smith who filled the same roles last year with the Tigers that Nicholson did at Miami.
He takes over a linebacker room that will have a lot of turnover on the field as well as off, with transfers Josiah Trotter and Mikai Gbayor likely leading the way, returner Khalil Jacobs and the possibility of Triston Newson back as well as the development of younger players in Nick Rodriguez and Jeremiah Beasley to contend with.
“My coaching style is different, I am an honest coach, I coach with a lot of passion, a lot of energy and enthusiasm,” Nicholson said. “I played the game, so I can relate, not too far removed from them. So my relatability to the players, just kind of like how DJ (Smith) was a younger coach. … I think my ability to connect, my ability to motivate, my ability to teach and to get the best out of each individual player when they’re not all the same.
“My definition of a coach is somebody who can get you to a particular place that you can’t get to by yourself. So it’s my job to get them to a place that they can’t achieve on their own. … It’s not always going to be smooth, they will go through adversity, but they will have support, they will have a coach, they will have a mentor, they will have a leader that’s going to help them along the way.”
But what drew Nicholson in most was the culture head coach Eli Drinkwitz has developed during his tenure.
“I want to be where my feet are, I want to leave a place better than when I found it,” Nicholson said. “I want to be a part of a championship culture, with championship players and a championship football team. And I think those things can be accomplished here at Missouri, so I’m excited about it.”
Off the field, Nicholson said his focus is on spending time with his family when he’s not focussed on football. But as is the case with most football coaches, the game takes up most of his days.
“I’m not into playing golf, I don’t fish,” Nicholson said. “I love basketball, so you can say that’s a hobby. I like playing. Being from North Carolina, growing up on tobacco road, you’ve got to know how to play ball. But mostly I’m home spending time with the family.”
Nicholson will get to Columbia Saturday for junior day as he begins his Tiger tenure, hoping to get off to a great start.
“(Mizzou) is about to get everything I have, there’s been a standard set at linebacker at Missouri and we’re about to elevate that standard to another level,” Nicholson said. “... It’s time to elevate to a whole 'nother level and I’m excited about that journey. We’ll take it one day at a time and I’m excited, I can’t wait.”
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