Stephen Leron Nicholas (born May 1, 1983) is an

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 wi ...

coach and former

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, ...

who is the defensive quality control coach for the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The cl ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the fourth round of the 2007 NFL Draft and played for the team for seven seasons. He played college football at South Florida.

Early years

Nicholas played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

at Robert E. Lee High School in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

. As a senior, he was a class 3A all-state linebacker and was invited to play in the

Shrine Bowl The Shrine Bowl was a postseason college football bowl game. The first game was played on December 18, 1948, at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas, between Hardin–Simmons University and Ouachita Baptist College.Foldesy, Jody. "Bowl ...

Playing career

College

Nicholas played college football at the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF i ...

. During his senior year, he was a

Big East The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

first-team selection. He finished his college career with 326

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football ** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking u ...

, 20 sacks, and a school record 53.5 tackles for loss.

National Football League

Atlanta Falcons

Nicholas was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the fourth round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He finished his rookie year with 37 tackles and one sack. In 2008, he saw action in all 16 games during the season. In 2009, he started 14 games, totaling 82 tackles, 3 sacks. He started his first career game against Miami on September 13. Nicholas was released by the Falcons after seven seasons on February 5, 2014.

Coaching career

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

In 2018, Nicholas was hired by the

to be their defensive quality control coach.

Personal life

Stephen Nicholas married then Irene Ledbetter (2007) and have 4 children. Nicholas is also a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity.

References

External links

Atlanta Falcons bioUSF Bulls bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholas, Stephen 1983 births Living people Players of American football from Jacksonville, Florida American football linebackers South Florida Bulls football players Robert E. Lee High School (Jacksonville) alumni Atlanta Falcons players