Derek Nicholson (born November 30, 1986) is the inside linebackers coach at Miami (FL) and a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Florida State Seminoles Football The Florida State Seminoles football team represents Florida State University (variously Florida State or FSU) in the sport of American football. The Seminoles compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Colle ...

and previously coached at

Southern Miss The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...

and Louisville.

College career

A two-year starter at middle linebacker for the Seminoles, Nicholson led Florida State in tackles during his junior and senior season. In 2008 Nicholson was named to the Butkus Award and Chuck Bednarik Award Watch Lists. Nicholson finished his college career with 207 tackles, 25.5 tackles for loss, 3.0 sacks, and two defensive touchdowns.

Professional career

After not being selected in the

2009 NFL Draft The 2009 NFL Draft was the seventy-fourth annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 25 and 26, 2009. T ...

, Nicholson was signed by the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

and participated in their mini-camp.

Coaching career

Nicholson began his coaching career in the high school football ranks in North Carolina and Florida before moving onto the college coaching ranks. Nicholson spent 4 seasons at

before returning to coach at Louisville, where he had coached in 2014. Nicholson would follow

Scott Satterfield Fredric Scott Satterfield (born December 21, 1972) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head football coach at the University of Cincinnati. Satterfield previously served as the head football coach at the Universi ...

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

after the 2022 season. However, in February 2023 Nicholson would be named the linebacker coach at Miami (FL) after

Charlie Strong Charles Rene Strong (born August 2, 1960) is an American football coach who is currently the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at the University of Miami. He recently served as the assistant head coach and inside linebackers coach ...

vacated the position.

Personal life

Nicholson attended Mount Tabor High School in

Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in N ...

. Nicholson's older brother A. J. Nicholson played for the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

and his father Darrell Nicholson played for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

References

External links

Florida State Seminoles bio
1988 births Living people American football linebackers Florida State Seminoles football players Dallas Vigilantes players {{Linebacker-1980s-stub