Donnie Orvin Nickey (born April 25, 1980) is 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 ...

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

. 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 ...

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

and was drafted by the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

in the fifth round of the

2003 NFL Draft The 2003 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League (NFL) teams selected amateur college football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually since 1936 NF ...

Early years

Nickey attended

Jonathan Alder High School Jonathan Alder High School is an NCA accredited public high school located in Plain City, Ohio. It is the only high school in the Jonathan Alder Local School District. The school, as well as the district, are named after Jonathan Alder, the firs ...

Plain City, Ohio Plain City is a village in Madison and Union counties in the U.S. state of Ohio, along Big Darby Creek. The population was 4,225 at the 2010 census. According to the official website, their mission statement is "to govern with integrity and fis ...

, wore number 2, and was an All-Ohio

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

. He also played free safety in football. In addition to his football talent, he was selected as an All-State center fielder as part of the 1998 OHSAA State Championship baseball team.

College career

Nickey was a co-captain with

Mike Doss Michael Allen Doss (born March 24, 1981) is an American former football safety who played in the National Football League (NFL) for six seasons. He played college football for Ohio State University, earned consensus All-American honors, and was ...

on the 2002 NCAA National Championship team.

Professional career

Nickey was drafted by the

in the 5th round (19th pick) of the

. He played his entire career with the Titans. Most of his time playing was on

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

, where he had been labeled as an 'Ace'. In 2010, while with the Titans, Nickey was ejected from a game against the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

after he shoved an official in the back during a retaliation with Chargers player Scott Mruczkowski. He was released by the Titans on July 25, 2011, after spending 8 seasons with the team.

Personal life

Nickey is married and currently lives in

Dublin, Ohio Dublin is a city in Franklin, Delaware and Union counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 49,328 in the 2020 census with a census estimate of 49,037 in 2019. Dublin is a suburb of Columbus. The city of Dublin hosts the yearly Mem ...

. As of April 2017, he is entering his second year as varsity Head Coach of the Jackson-North Side Indians.

References

External links

Tennessee Titans biography
1980 births Living people Players of American football from Akron, Ohio American football safeties Ohio State Buckeyes football players Tennessee Titans players People from Plain City, Ohio People from Jackson, Tennessee {{defensiveback-1980s-stub