David Enjoys Working With Nickerson
June 11th, 2014
Soon to be Hall of Fame linebacker Derrick Brooks will tell anyone who will listen that he learned so much about being an NFL linebacker from Hardy Nickerson.
The former Pro Bowl middle linebacker was a rare bird, wanting to come to the Bucs as a high-priced free agent when most free agents avoided Tampa Bay as if the team was infected with the Ebola virus.
The line of top-notch Bucs linebackers began (in the modern age) with Nickerson followed by Brooks, followed by Lavonte David. (Yes, Joe knows Shelton Quarles was a Pro Bowler, too.)
Now, past and present are united. Nickerson is David’s position coach. And the pupil is absolutely loving it.
David is a low key dude. But when asked about working with Nickerson after minicamp practice today, David completely lit up, showing rare emotion (read: a pulse and a smile).
“It is amazing,” David said of working with Nickerson. “He always has a smile on his face. He is always getting amped up. You can tell he wishes he could be out there. It kind of raises your level. You want to put a smile on his face the way he coaches.”
What a great direct line of stud linebackers, Nickerson to Brooks to David. And now, the father of Bucs linebackers (with apologies to Batman Wood), is teaching the next Bucs linebacker star.
Pretty cool.
June 11th, 2014 at 6:09 pm
That subject of different atmosphere showing. It’s a no brainer the previous coaches were too uptight. Glad David is getting some good mentoring, especially from a coach who use to be a player.
June 11th, 2014 at 6:39 pm
This is very cool – history repeating itself.
June 11th, 2014 at 7:04 pm
Let us Hope so Harry!!
June 11th, 2014 at 8:28 pm
There are several players who’ve become coaches, but how often to you get a former player that was great (when he played) becoming a coach? Not too often. Hardware is really going to help Lavonte (as if he needs help), but there’s something to be said for this dynamic, they both can relate to eachother, Hardy’s been there and perfected that position, I really hope he’s here for the long haul.
We had Keith Millard last year, but he was a Viking, and the head coach turned out to be a dud. I hope Lovie continues the trend and maybe bring in other players from the past to help, like a Brad Johnson, Jimmie Giles or even Paul Gruber-players that were great at their craft and always remained a true Buc at heart!
June 11th, 2014 at 8:30 pm
Great stuff! This is what makes this coaching staff special. You can feel the perfect fit! Just like when Gruden was hired – The Perfect Fit!
This fit feels like it’s going to be a great ride for a long time.
June 11th, 2014 at 9:06 pm
I’m really hoping Lavonte makes it into the top 100.
He deserves it!
It looks like McCoy is coming in at 49!!!
Bout time a Buc made it in to the top 100
June 11th, 2014 at 9:09 pm
Thanks Joe for the Batman Woods shout out. When I was a young Buc fan suffering with winless seasons, Batman Woods was my favorite Buc. He had swagger and was one of the few players to bring it. The Bucs have had and still have some excellent, great LBs. The Batman Woods was one of the first in a hopefully a long long line of present and future great Bucs LBs.
June 11th, 2014 at 9:10 pm
Sweet I was wrong, they tried to be slick by sneaking him in at the end of #50 lol.
June 11th, 2014 at 10:45 pm
Love me some Nickerson. Had season tickets back in the day when he played. Half filled stadium. Orange jerseys. He gave some crazy ass 100 percent full effort every game.
My favorite memory was probaly a home game against Detroit and Barry Sanders. We were getting our ass kicked so hard. Down by like 3 or 4 tds. He stayed all jacked up and fighting though. Didnt hang his head down or anything like that. Then ends up punching a detroit player in the head w his helmet on and gets ejected from the game. Everyone gave him a standing loud and roudy ovation for his effort.
June 12th, 2014 at 12:18 am
This season, I predict that #54 will vastly outplay that LB from the stinkin’ Panthers. Just like he did last year. The main difference being that many more people will come to see just how vastly superior #54 is to the other guy. That other guy is talented, no doubt, but our guy is SPECIAL. Period.
June 12th, 2014 at 8:29 am
I was at a game against the Bills in the Sombrero. Thurman Thomas was in his prime. Kicking everybody’s azz. Nickerson shadowed him all day and pretty much shut him down. We still lost in the last couple minutes but I watched the Nickerson Thomas battle all day. It was sweet.
June 12th, 2014 at 9:27 am
BoJim, with all do respect, I’m trying to remember which game you’re talking about because Hardy joined the Bucs in ’93, and we hadn’t lost to the Bills until ’09, which was our second year in Raymond James Stadium, the previous loss to the Bills was back in ’91 which Kevin Murphy was the main LB then. It’s crazy that I can remember that, yet can’t remember what I ate yesterday! lol