The Kick is Good: Inside Nicholson's Game-Winner
9/28/2022 10:55:00 AM | Football
In a recent episode of 60 Minutes, Pro Football Hall of Famer Morten Andersen described being a placekicker this way: "I would say 90 percent of it is mental, and the last 10 percent is mental."
Miami University kicker Graham Nicholson couldn't agree more. "That's the most true quote of all time for me," Nicholson said this week. "It's such a mental position; it's pretty much all mental. My body can do the stuff, but it's all about execution: Can I execute?"
So it's no surprise that Nicholson spent Miami's final timeout Saturday night at Ryan Field attempting to get his mind right.
By now, you know the scene:
26 seconds to play.
Miami and Northwestern tied at 14-14.
Ball resting on the Wildcats' 19-yard line.
The RedHawks looking for their first win over a 'Power Five' team since 2003.
And Nicholson, the sophomore kicker from Cincinnati, Ohio, trying to rebound from a missed kick and a blocked kick earlier in the game to convert perhaps the biggest attempt of his life.
"Before the kick, the only thing that I'm thinking about is trying to not think about the kick," Nicholson laughed. "Then, leading up to it, I just tried to make it its own event. Every rep is its own rep, and you can't let anything from the past affect you.
"I missed the two kicks earlier in the game, so not a lot of confidence from most people in me…but obviously the team had confidence in me, and I had confidence in myself.
"I was just trying to build that confidence up, treat it as its own rep, and go into it just ready to make it. And that's what I did."
Punter Dom Dzioban gave Nicholson a high five right before the timeout ended to try and ease the tension. "Well, this is pretty cool, huh?", said a grinning Dzioban.
Nicholson merely laughed. "Yeah, I know," he responded.
"I knew then that he was going to make it," Dzioban said. "We prepare all week for situations like that."
While thousands of people watching in Evanston, Ill. or around the country on Big Ten Network might have been anxiously awaiting the result of Nicholson's field goal attempt that night, at least one other person in the stadium wasn't the least bit concerned.
"I thought he was going to make it," Miami coach Chuck Martin said. "He's a really good kicker. Honestly, I wasn't really worried at all.
"I'm a big believer in, 'You get what you deserve.' We had a plan going into the game, and our players executed the plan, to the T. I know Graham had missed two kicks, but I know he's super talented, and I know he's super confident.
"To me, we did everything right to win the game, the kick is going to go in, and we're going to win the game and finish this thing off. That's what I thought."
- - -
Nicholson came to Miami in 2021 as a preferred walk-on from Summit Country Day in Cincinnati, where he finished as the football program's all-time leading scorer, earning All-Ohio honors in both football and soccer as a senior.
His campus visits to Oxford won him over during the recruiting process, and he has enjoyed being less than an hour away from home as a student-athlete, which makes it relatively easy to get back for visits with his family (and his dog!). As a Finance major in the Farmer School of Business, Nicholson said Miami has provided 'the best of both worlds in all aspects.'
On the field, the newest RedHawk kicker made an impact literally from day one with the Miami football program. "I remember his first practice," Martin said. "He kicked a ball, he kicked another ball, and about the fifth kick, I'm like, 'He's really good.'
"Even the way he struck the ball, you could tell he was really talented. That's fine, but when the game comes on, can you kick under pressure? So I got all these defensive ends to come stand [a few feet away] screaming at him, and then he made three more kicks.
"I'm thinking, 'Uh, we might have something here, boys.'"
Dominique Robinson, now a rookie with the NFL's Chicago Bears, was one of those defensive linemen. "A few of us were around him yelling and trying to distract him," Robinson recalled. "The field goal distance got pushed back each time; he was making them with ease, so Coach Martin told us to start heckling him to try and throw him off. He proceeded to continue to make the kicks.
"If he was doing that as a freshman, I knew he was going to be good."
Nicholson had an excellent debut season, converting 75% of his field goals and over 90% of his extra points. He was also named MAC East Special Teams Player of the Week twice. His successful freshman year led to a special moment last month when Nicholson found out in the middle of practice that he would be receiving a scholarship and was immediately mobbed by his teammates at midfield. The video went viral on social media when ESPN's David Pollack shared the clip with his 300,000+ Twitter followers.
"It was amazing," said Nicholson. "It was nice to see: It seemed like everybody on the team supported me. It showed the close relationships I really have with everybody, which is awesome…I get to play the game with my best friends, which is just the best thing in the world."
Martin said giving Nicholson a scholarship was a 'no-brainer.'
"He was 15-for-18 inside of 50 yards last year. You have to earn your way as a walk-on, and he certainly did," said Martin. "It's always a great feeling when you can put a walk-on on scholarship, and he was as deserving as any."
- - -
The last time a Miami player made a go-ahead field goal in the final 30 seconds of a game was November 2010, when Trevor Cook lifted the RedHawks to a win at Bowling Green with a 33-yarder on the final play.
Until September 2022, that is.
Nicholson's 36-yarder with 21 seconds remaining at Northwestern gave the visitors a lead they wouldn't relinquish. Once again, the Miami kicker was mobbed by his teammates. But in the middle of the chaos, the least demonstrative player on the field wearing Red and White seemed to be Nicholson himself.
"After the kick, it was overwhelming," Nicholson explained. "Through my eyes, I just kind of corrected my own mistakes from earlier in the game. It felt great."
After the game (and the ensuing celebration), Nicholson ran to the locker room to call his parents, who weren't able to attend in person. "They told me they're proud of me," said Nicholson. "I think they're more proud of me than I'll ever be proud of myself…even when I don't have success."
Martin also used the word 'proud' as he recapped his team's overall performance. "Our guys played really hard, and they played as smart as they could," he said. "Saturday showed how hard we play, and how we play together won the game. We really played together for 60 minutes…our sideline just kept hanging in, which gave me so much confidence as the game went on."
The 2-2 RedHawks hope to take the confidence they earned in Evanston into MAC play as the calendar turns to October. Miami travels to Buffalo this weekend to begin conference play, followed by the annual Homecoming game Oct. 8 vs. Kent State at Yager Stadium.
"We've been close, and we've played well against Power Five teams, but to win one gives you confidence," Martin said. "I think a lot of the world is finding out what we already knew: that we have got a lot of good players and they're pretty good at playing together."
Yes, the players are good.
And more often than not, when Nicholson is involved, the kick is too.
Find more Front Row Features at MiamiRedHawks.com/FrontRowFeatures.
Nicholson and the RedHawks return to Yager Stadium next weekend for a Homecoming clash with Kent State. '4 Love and Honor' ticket packages (four tickets, four pennants, four boxes of popcorn, and one $10 bookstore coupon) are on sale for as low as $88 – click here to purchase yours today!
Miami University kicker Graham Nicholson couldn't agree more. "That's the most true quote of all time for me," Nicholson said this week. "It's such a mental position; it's pretty much all mental. My body can do the stuff, but it's all about execution: Can I execute?"
So it's no surprise that Nicholson spent Miami's final timeout Saturday night at Ryan Field attempting to get his mind right.
By now, you know the scene:
26 seconds to play.
Miami and Northwestern tied at 14-14.
Ball resting on the Wildcats' 19-yard line.
The RedHawks looking for their first win over a 'Power Five' team since 2003.
And Nicholson, the sophomore kicker from Cincinnati, Ohio, trying to rebound from a missed kick and a blocked kick earlier in the game to convert perhaps the biggest attempt of his life.
"Before the kick, the only thing that I'm thinking about is trying to not think about the kick," Nicholson laughed. "Then, leading up to it, I just tried to make it its own event. Every rep is its own rep, and you can't let anything from the past affect you.
"I missed the two kicks earlier in the game, so not a lot of confidence from most people in me…but obviously the team had confidence in me, and I had confidence in myself.
"I was just trying to build that confidence up, treat it as its own rep, and go into it just ready to make it. And that's what I did."
Punter Dom Dzioban gave Nicholson a high five right before the timeout ended to try and ease the tension. "Well, this is pretty cool, huh?", said a grinning Dzioban.
Nicholson merely laughed. "Yeah, I know," he responded.
"I knew then that he was going to make it," Dzioban said. "We prepare all week for situations like that."
While thousands of people watching in Evanston, Ill. or around the country on Big Ten Network might have been anxiously awaiting the result of Nicholson's field goal attempt that night, at least one other person in the stadium wasn't the least bit concerned.
"I thought he was going to make it," Miami coach Chuck Martin said. "He's a really good kicker. Honestly, I wasn't really worried at all.
"I'm a big believer in, 'You get what you deserve.' We had a plan going into the game, and our players executed the plan, to the T. I know Graham had missed two kicks, but I know he's super talented, and I know he's super confident.
"To me, we did everything right to win the game, the kick is going to go in, and we're going to win the game and finish this thing off. That's what I thought."
- - -
Nicholson came to Miami in 2021 as a preferred walk-on from Summit Country Day in Cincinnati, where he finished as the football program's all-time leading scorer, earning All-Ohio honors in both football and soccer as a senior.
His campus visits to Oxford won him over during the recruiting process, and he has enjoyed being less than an hour away from home as a student-athlete, which makes it relatively easy to get back for visits with his family (and his dog!). As a Finance major in the Farmer School of Business, Nicholson said Miami has provided 'the best of both worlds in all aspects.'
On the field, the newest RedHawk kicker made an impact literally from day one with the Miami football program. "I remember his first practice," Martin said. "He kicked a ball, he kicked another ball, and about the fifth kick, I'm like, 'He's really good.'
"Even the way he struck the ball, you could tell he was really talented. That's fine, but when the game comes on, can you kick under pressure? So I got all these defensive ends to come stand [a few feet away] screaming at him, and then he made three more kicks.
"I'm thinking, 'Uh, we might have something here, boys.'"
Dominique Robinson, now a rookie with the NFL's Chicago Bears, was one of those defensive linemen. "A few of us were around him yelling and trying to distract him," Robinson recalled. "The field goal distance got pushed back each time; he was making them with ease, so Coach Martin told us to start heckling him to try and throw him off. He proceeded to continue to make the kicks.
"If he was doing that as a freshman, I knew he was going to be good."
Nicholson had an excellent debut season, converting 75% of his field goals and over 90% of his extra points. He was also named MAC East Special Teams Player of the Week twice. His successful freshman year led to a special moment last month when Nicholson found out in the middle of practice that he would be receiving a scholarship and was immediately mobbed by his teammates at midfield. The video went viral on social media when ESPN's David Pollack shared the clip with his 300,000+ Twitter followers.
"It was amazing," said Nicholson. "It was nice to see: It seemed like everybody on the team supported me. It showed the close relationships I really have with everybody, which is awesome…I get to play the game with my best friends, which is just the best thing in the world."
Martin said giving Nicholson a scholarship was a 'no-brainer.'
"He was 15-for-18 inside of 50 yards last year. You have to earn your way as a walk-on, and he certainly did," said Martin. "It's always a great feeling when you can put a walk-on on scholarship, and he was as deserving as any."
- - -
The last time a Miami player made a go-ahead field goal in the final 30 seconds of a game was November 2010, when Trevor Cook lifted the RedHawks to a win at Bowling Green with a 33-yarder on the final play.
Until September 2022, that is.
‼️ IT'S GOOD ‼️
— Miami Football (@MiamiOHFootball) September 25, 2022
We take a 17-14 lead with less than 19 seconds to play!#RiseUpRedHawks 🔥🏈 pic.twitter.com/YT5avq9HgQ
Nicholson's 36-yarder with 21 seconds remaining at Northwestern gave the visitors a lead they wouldn't relinquish. Once again, the Miami kicker was mobbed by his teammates. But in the middle of the chaos, the least demonstrative player on the field wearing Red and White seemed to be Nicholson himself.
"After the kick, it was overwhelming," Nicholson explained. "Through my eyes, I just kind of corrected my own mistakes from earlier in the game. It felt great."
After the game (and the ensuing celebration), Nicholson ran to the locker room to call his parents, who weren't able to attend in person. "They told me they're proud of me," said Nicholson. "I think they're more proud of me than I'll ever be proud of myself…even when I don't have success."
Martin also used the word 'proud' as he recapped his team's overall performance. "Our guys played really hard, and they played as smart as they could," he said. "Saturday showed how hard we play, and how we play together won the game. We really played together for 60 minutes…our sideline just kept hanging in, which gave me so much confidence as the game went on."
The 2-2 RedHawks hope to take the confidence they earned in Evanston into MAC play as the calendar turns to October. Miami travels to Buffalo this weekend to begin conference play, followed by the annual Homecoming game Oct. 8 vs. Kent State at Yager Stadium.
"We've been close, and we've played well against Power Five teams, but to win one gives you confidence," Martin said. "I think a lot of the world is finding out what we already knew: that we have got a lot of good players and they're pretty good at playing together."
Yes, the players are good.
And more often than not, when Nicholson is involved, the kick is too.
Find more Front Row Features at MiamiRedHawks.com/FrontRowFeatures.
Nicholson and the RedHawks return to Yager Stadium next weekend for a Homecoming clash with Kent State. '4 Love and Honor' ticket packages (four tickets, four pennants, four boxes of popcorn, and one $10 bookstore coupon) are on sale for as low as $88 – click here to purchase yours today!
Players Mentioned
Kicker/Punter
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Placekicker
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Defensive Line
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