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Holliday: Local lineman gets national attention

May 24, 2008

Xavier Nixon grew up in a "homework comes first" household. He is the rare serious student who also possesses a high football IQ:

"He knows when the wide receivers screw up. He just has that kind of IQ and it's so rare," says Jack Britt head football coach Richard Bailey. "Usually you've got the quarterback who know's what everybody's doing, but it's so unusual for an offensive lineman to know what everybody on the football field is doing."

Nixon is a student athlete who works to maintain his complete mental focus during periods of extreme exertion - a 6-6, 270-pound technician whose strength is exceded only by his athleticism:

"I have great footwork for an offensive lineman," Nixon admits. "I know how to use my hips and set my angle to use the strength that I have."

"There's a lot of big guys that can mash people in front of them," says coach Bailey. "But, there aren't a lot of athletic guys who can get to the corner and block the defensive backs and safeties...the real athletic guys."

Jack Britt runs the spread offense, which makes Xavier Nixon even more intriguing to a college that runs the same system.

"We were coming back from Florida the other night," coach Bailey jokes, "and his phone, Xavier's phone, rang every fifteen minutes for six and a half hours."

Many of the calls came from internet sites that want daily updates on Nixon's college preferences. He is, after all, one of the top recruits in the entire country. Nixon told us he hopes to narrow his choice in the near future to five schools in the eastern half of the country.

"I want to get my degree in three and a half years...graduate early," Nixon says. "I want to win championships, bowl games...BCS Championships, and I want to play as a freshman."

If Xavier Nixon seems unusually grounded for a teenager, give his parents, both members of the military, much of the credit. They take parenting seriously, whether home or abroad.

"We were both deployed from November of 2004 to November of 2005," says Nixon's mother Fotini. "And then [Nixon's father] was consecutively deployed again."

The soldiers Nixon remained in constant contact with their son through phone calls and email.

"It's tough trying to be a father from a distance," says Kenneth Nixon. "It's real tough. But I tell him when I'm not there, he's got to be the man of the house."

Command Sergeant Major Nixon must soon re-deploy to Afghanistan. He hopes to return for the All-American Bowl in December, when his bright, athletic son plans to announce where he'll do his studying and blocking next.