By Dimitrios Kontogiannis, Sports Editor
When the NCAA approved Indian Trail High School & Academy 2017 graduate, Daviyon Nixon’s appeal to play football at the University of Iowa about three months back, he was eligible to play at the Big Ten school in the spring semester of 2018.
When he woke up on the morning of Oct. 25, 2017, he had no idea he would have an opportunity for play for a national powerhouse.
Alabama D-line coach Karl Dunbar followed Nixon’s Twitter account on Oct. 24, and on the same day asked him if he could take a phone call. That phone call would be Dunbar offering Nixon a full-ride scholarship offer to play for the Alabama Crimson Tide football program.
If you don’t watch much college football, then let’s tune you in on the University of Alabama’s football superiority. Four conference titles in the last five years, No. 1 in the Associated Press poll for the last 23 weeks, and 16 national championships. Four of those came in the last nine years.
And in more good news for Nixon, Alabama has had seven defensive ends drafted into the NFL in the last seven years, and two in 2017 alone.
“My first thought was disbelief. I didn’t think it was real. I was so happy for him, and I just knew that’s where I wanted him to go,” said Rodney Nixon Sr., Daviyon Nixon’s father.
“At first I was surprised, I didn’t believe that it was true. I had to ask him if he was serious. But after that I was very happy,” said Daviyon Nixon himself.
“Daviyon was so happy, he was in disbelief like me. He is handling it like a true champ,” said Nixon Sr.
Nixon will wait until this football season is over to make a decision as to where he will play, he and his father said.
“I’m just going to take a long look at things for right now,” Daviyon Nixon said.
“I do have a preference and ‘Bama would be the dream school for me, but that’s my choice and I’m not playing, he is. He has to stay at the school for four years not me,” is what Nixon Sr. said when asked if he had a preference of school for his son. Nixon Sr. also hinted that even though his son hasn’t expressed his preference, he may have one.
When asked if having a NFL future will sway his decision to what school he will go to, Nixon said, “No, I know regardless of what school I go to, it’s going to be my talent that helps me make it into the NFL, not the name of the school.”
Nixon originally committed to Northern Illinois on July 28, 2016, but decommitted after going on his visit to Iowa on Jan. 27, and officially signed his letter of intent to attend college in Des Moines on national signing day of 2017 (Feb. 1). Nixon gauged interest from a lot of Big Ten teams, and also got offers from Buffalo, New Mexico, North Dakota State, Purdue, and Western Michigan. Since the NCAA said that Nixon’s grades were not up to par, he was forced to play his first season at Iowa Western Community College. Through 11 games, Nixon racked up 44 total tackles and three sacks this season, while leading the Reivers to a 11-1 record.