University Southern California Trojans
Senior Walk-on Earns Respect And Admiration From Peers
September 18, 2000 | Football
Sept. 18, 2000
At 22 years of age, senior wide receiver Matt Nickels isn't exactly an old man, but his young teammates in the Trojan receiving corps call him "grandpa" anyway.
But they also know to respect their elders. After all, it wasn't any of the young speed demons catching quarterback Carson Palmer's first touchdown pass of the season--it was Nickels, a former walk-on who at Palmer's urging came to USC by way of Dartmouth.
"I wasn't expecting it," said Nickels of his 8-yard scoring snag from Palmer in the second quarter of USC's win over Colorado. "I ran my route and looked back and Carson put it in there perfectly. I looked down and saw the yellow paint. That's when I realized I was in. I was so excited. It felt almost unreal."
The touchdown was the culmination of a long journey for Nickels. As a wide receiver his senior year at Santa Margarita High in Rancho Margarita, Calif., in 1995, he can remember when his teammate Palmer was just a back-up sophomore quarterback.
"I was best friends with the starting quarterback while Carson's best friend was (current Colorado wide receiver) John Minardi," said Nickels. " We kind of had a big brother-little brother thing going on. We never hooked up on a pass play, but we've always had a camaraderie ever since those days."
But while Palmer's path would lead to the intense spotlight of USC, Nickels' path led him to the cloistered halls and ivory towers of the Ivy League and Dartmouth.
"Jim Hartigan, the head coach at Santa Margarita, is legendary for putting athletes into the Ivy League to play football," Nickels said. "There were four or five before me who did it. At the time it just seemed like an excellent opportunity. Dartmouth was a great school academically and it also gave me the opportunity to play football. And the I-AA level seemed like the right level for me. It seemed like I could compete and play."
Actually, Nickels didn't see any action in his two years at Dartmouth. Then, to make matters worse, he received some bad news from the home front.
"I enjoyed my two years at Dartmouth," said Nickels. "Then my father became very sick with cancer and I struggled with it for a summer back there. He was in the hospital for an unusually long time. He was going through chemotherapy and it was driving me crazy knowing that if something went wrong, I was at least a day's travel away. If something happened during that 24-hour period and I wasn't there to help, I would never forgive myself."
Soon, despite his parents' wishes for him to stay at Dartmouth, he was on his way to USC. He enrolled in the fall of 1998 and spent the entire academic year as just a regular student majoring in sociology. But he couldn't keep his mind off of football. Finally, at the urging of Palmer and his parents, he decided to join the football team as a walk-on in the spring of 1999.
"I was bored out of my mind doing the normal student thing," said Nickels. "My parents really pushed me to walk on. I wasn't going to, but finally I said,'What the heck.' It turned out to be basically the same time committment as when I was at Dartmouth, but the biggest difference was the speed."
One thing Nickels noticed right away was how quickly his teammates accepted him, despite his walk-on status.
"Being a walk-on is just like coming in as a scholarship freshman-no one really knows you," said Nickels. "It takes some time to get to know the guys. So obviously people are going to look at you like, 'Who are the new guys?' But no one ever gave me a hard time. It's such a great group of guys on this team that they make you feel right at home right away."
After playing sparingly in 1999 and not catching a pass, Nickels' hard work and stellar play on Howard Jones practice field raised some eyebrows this past spring. He became one of USC's most dependable targets: always open, always glue-fingered. As the fall got underway, the reward for his efforts was a full scholarship, courtesy of Paul Hackett. Nickels has so far shown he is worthy. As one of the first receivers off the bench for the Trojans, he has had a solid start so far this season, with three catches for 26 yards and the touchdown to his credit.
"He's a sure-handed receiver who runs great routes," said Hackett. "He just makes play after play."
But as the only senior receiver in the playing rotation, Nickels knows his time to make plays is limited. That's one reason his touchdown against Colorado was so special. Plus, he got his main goal for the season out of the way.
"My goal to start the season was to score a touchdown at home," said Nickels. "I got that a lot sooner than I expected so everything else is icing on the cake now."
But Nickels is hardly complacent. After all, he's not at Dartmouth anymore.
"I'm in a situation where I have to make every play count," Nickels said. "I can't screw up because there are guys who are incredible athletes right behind me who want to play as much as I do. So I have to go out there and cherish every single play and every chance I get."
