Roosevelt Nix ready to take Kent State football to next level
8/10/2012 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Dave Carducci, Record Courier
Roosevelt Nix isn't shy about admitting he was unhappy to see someone else win the Mid-American Conference's Defensive Player of the Year award in 2011.
The Kent State defensive tackle claimed the honor as a freshman a year earlier, but a nagging turf toe injury that kept him from playing at full strength on Saturdays and then from even practicing on weekdays made it difficult to repeat as a sophomore.
Western Michigan defensive tackle Drew Nowak ended up with the award to cap his fine senior season, but now Nix wants it back.
"That's not being cocky," said Nix. "No disrespect intended (to Nowak). He is a great athlete just like me. But winning it my freshman year and not winning it again, that's frustrating. I'm going to go out there and compete and of course I want it again."
Nix is easily the most disruptive defensive force in the MAC heading into 2012. Despite still being considered somewhat undersized for his position at 5-foot-11 and 245 pounds, the Reynoldsburg native already ranks ninth in Kent State history with 37 tackles for losses — a total accumulated in just two seasons, including one at less than full strength.
Nix found a way to not only play through his injury, but to be productive. After dropping 20 ball-carriers behind the line of scrimmage as a freshman, including 10 on sacks, Nix managed 17 more tackles for losses and another 41/2 quarterbacks sacks last season while playing at what he said was close to 70 percent.
"Nothing he does surprises me," said Kent State defensive coordinator Jon Heacock. "As a coach you want every player, especially a guy like Rosie, to be as good as he can be. But after you get injured the way he did, obviously it's hard to be as good as you can be. Add in that you are not practicing and that takes a mental toll on you, too, as well as physical because you are not getting reps, you are not out there with your unit and you are not out there with your team.
"It's also stressful for the unit and the team, too, because you don't know if he is playing or not," Heacock said.
Nix dealt with the frustration of his injury by talking regularly with his coaches and with counselors. He couldn't practice, but he could play on Saturdays.
"I decided I didn't want to look at it like I was half myself, or 70 percent of myself, or something like that," he said. "I figured if I'm going out there and playing, I'm going to find a way to (influence) a game."
Now that he is back to practicing full time during preseason camp, Nix is having an impact on the players who will line up next to him.
Defensive line has long been a strength for Kent State in large part because of the influence of veterans like Nix. The unit also boasts depth the Golden Flashes have traditionally missed at other positions.
"(Depth) starts with recruiting, and we've been good recruiting at that position," said defensive line coach Brian George, who came to Kent last season as part of head coach Darrell Hazell's first staff. "The guy who was coaching them before me (Matt Edwards) is a guy who played for me (at Miami University), and he did a good job recruiting them. We've continued to recruit good players who can play.
"The second thing is we've had good older players. Any time you have some tradition, that tradition is passed on from generation to generation if they do things the right way."
Nix is embracing that role. Every day after practice, he goes back to the apartment he shares with junior defensive lineman Richard Gray and talks football. Gray has all of the physical tools to become an impact playmaker as an edge rusher moving into an expanded role in 2012.
"Honestly, I think I've helped Richard change his whole mindset," said Nix. "I'm more impressed with his attitude. He came in as a freshman, worked through camp and was told he couldn't play (due to academic issues). That's tough to deal with. Then he came back last year, but there's no way you can possibly be right your first year back. But now he has been through all of that and he understands there is nothing left but to let loose. He's going to be great."
One year after regularly being named KSU's Scout Team Player of the Week during his redshirt freshman season, defensive lineman Nate Terhune has moved to a three technique, where he could be another key to an eight-to-10 man rotation on the Flashes' line. Terhune has spent his camp studying Nix's every move.
"I've learned more in these last six days than I did all last year just from watching him," said Terhune. "He's been sharing his techniques and helping me try to improve mine."
That unselfish willingness to lead is what makes Nix so special, according to Gray.
"With all of his awards, he doesn't talk about (himself)," said Gray. "He wants us to get it, too. He says he wants the MAC Player of the Year award, but if someone else on the team gets it, he'll be just as happy."
Nix looks around at a defensive line rotation that includes talent like Gray and Mark Fackler on the edge, the experience of Dana Brown next to him on the inside, the high-energy addition of Terhune, and the potential of younger players like sophomores Anthony Pruitt and Carlows Brown and freshmen Chris Fairchild and Jake Kincaid, and he sees a unit that could be a key to Kent State finally build a winning tradition.
"I have my (personal) goals, but the important goals are team," said Nix. "I want to continue the pace we have right now (in camp), and I want us as a team to go to a championship and a bowl game, and do some special stuff in terms of starting a dynasty. I'm not just talking either when I say that. I've been here for three years, and I've never seen a season like this. It's looked good for us every year, but now I want it to look good and actually be good."
