This fall, Hardy Nickerson Sr. gives the Illinois football program a tremendous upgrade over Tim Banks at the Defensive Coordinator position. You always hear about what a huge upgrade Lovie Smith is over Tim Beckman/Bill Cubit, and rightfully so, but you don’t hear all that much about Nickerson honestly.
That’s because football media don’t write/talk about/feature their shows around defensive coordinators very often. DCs are not QBs, who always receive most of the media coverage, but the Whitman hire led to the Lovie hire, which preceded the Nickerson hire, and this whole domino theory continues right down to the field level with Hardy Nickerson Jr.
While this year most likely won’t see the Illini going to the Rose Bowl or anything like that, you’ve already seen the changes at the top starting to pay off some dividends.
Josh Whitman > Mike Thomas. Lovie Smith > Tim Beckman/Bill Cubit. Hardy Nickerson > Tim Banks.
Finally, Hardy Nickerson The Elder was able to recruit Hardy Nickerson The Younger to Champaign where he’ll fill a huge hole.
Thus Hardy Nickerson Jr. > the other options Illini football had at the mike linebacker position.
The 6-0, 230-pound linebacker spent the last four years at California, but he’s immediately eligible to play this fall, via college football’s “free agency” rule.
Nickerson led Cal, a bowl team, in tackles with 112, including 54 solo, as a team captain in 2015. He played in 35 games during his career with the Golden Bears and registered 246 tackles, 9.0 TFLs, one interception, two forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries.
With T.J. Neal unexpectedly leaving early, and set to finish his career at Auburn, the 2016 Illini are now be without six of their top seven tacklers from 2015. Safety Taylor Barton is the only returning member of that group. who returns. Neal’s transfer, plus the graduation of four year starter Mason Monheim, leaves James Crawford the only returning starter at linebacker.
Fellow linebackers B.J. Bello and LaKeith Walls also decided to transfer, so who’s left for Hardy Nickerson Sr, one of the NFL’s best linebackers of the 1990s to coach up?
Well, you’ll likely have Crawford at the Will (weak side) and Hardy Nickerson Jr. (a Pac 12 all-conference honorable mention) starting along with Tre Watson at the Sam (strong side). Mike Svetina, Austin Roberts, Julian Jones and freshman Dele Harding will be the primary backups.
In short, Nickerson Jr. is a big deal for Illinois because linebacker is one of the thinnest positions on the team this season. Last year the Illini defense made a huge jump, going from 109th nationally to 30th. Give Tim Banks some credit him for that, and then we watched Cubit let him go, but also give props to Mike Phair being elevated to co-defensive coordinator. Phair returns this season as DL Coach, and when you put him alongside Lovie and Hardy, you have quite the trio of defensive minds.
That expertise will be needed too; as Illinois lost a lot on that side of the ball. In addition to the transfers, seniors Jihad Ward and Clayton Fjedelum graduated and moved on to the NFL Draft.
“People know we’re a pro style defense, they know what our defense looks like, our system has won Super Bowls, so I think prospects can envision themselves playing in our defense,” Nickerson the Elder said.
“I think everyone in America knows Coach Smith and that’s going to be huge for us. People are going to know where we’re from, and with that name recognition, there’s going to be automatic interest.”
“The scheme that we’re running, people have seen it, and they know that it works.”
The audio of our exclusive with Hardy Nickerson is posted below:
https://soundcloud.com/p-m-banks/hardy-nickerson-exclusive-illini-football
Nickerson was set to be Chip Kelly’s Linebackers Coach in San Francisco before Lovie brought him to Champaign. He played 16 seasons in the NFL for four teams (5 Pro Bowls, 4 All-Pros) before joining the pro football coaching ranks with the Chicago Bears in 2007 and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2014-15. As a player, he was named to the NFL’s all decade team of the 1990s.
The coaching staff, especially the defensive specialists, boast a ton of NFL experience, and it’s going to be major part of the program’s identity. It’s going to help shape and define their recruiting plan, angle and pitch. The presence of Lovie has given Illini football something it hasn’t had in this generation, a brand name head coach.
The fact that the team’s best position group, by far, is the defensive line (more on this concept here). That adheres to the brand identity.
We sat down with Hardy Nickerson the Younger at Illini football Media Day.
“I never thought I’d have this opportunity (to play college football for his dad),” Nickerson said. “So this was something I had to take advantage of.”
Nickerson will be “the quarterback” of the defense this season. He’ll play the same position Brian Urlacher did with Lovie Smith’s Chicago Bears teams. He’ll have the same responsibilities too- making all the calls, ensuring everyone lines up right etc.
“We’re still watching tape of Urlacher right now, learning our run fits and our pass fits. “It’s amazing to see guys like that do the same thing, play the same scheme that you play,” Nickerson said.
In addition to Urlacher, some of the other middle linebackers Nickerson looks up to and studies include (his dad obviously) and Derrick Brooks.
There was some Hardy Nickerson Jr. and Brian Urlacher talk during Lovie’s presser at Illini Media Day.
You can watch that below. The conversation takes place around the 28 minute mark.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.