2009 Spartan Nation Football Profile: QB Keith Nichol #9
2009 Spartan Nation Football Profile: QB Keith Nichol #9
Height: 6’ 2â€
Weight:Â 214
2009 Eligibility: Sophomore
EXP:Â Red Shirt
Status:Â Backup QB Battling for Starting QB
Strengths: Nichol has an arm that makes everyone drool. He has a laser quick release and can throw rolling right or left. He has not only good speed, but also excellent football quickness. I have heard described as a QB with the tools of Drew Stanton, only faster and more accurate.
Nichol’s journey to MSU is well documented, but in the end he followed his heart and came home. You certainly can’t blame him for that and he is a fine young man. Nichol’s talent is unquestionable and he has all of the tools to be not a good QB, but a great one.
Weakness: I wrote in Spartan Nation Magazine after the spring game of a play that best demonstrates Nichol’s biggest weakness. Here is what I wrote in the magazine:
During the white team’s third series, Nichol faced a second and ten at the green team’s 20. On first down the offensive line allowed him to get instant pressure so the play was an act of futility from the start. On this second down play, Nichol left the pocket early and relied on his legs to get out of there. He should have stayed in the pocket and by not doing so he missed a wide-open David Duran in the end zone for a touchdown and threw an incomplete pass to another target. Now you don’t right off a great talent for that mistake, you use it as a teaching point. Nichol showed his ability to adapt when on third down he stayed in the pocket and found Milton Colbert for five yards and his team walked away with a field goal. Spartan Nation Magazine April 2009
Final Analysis: Nichol has all the tools to compete for the starting job. I have total confidence that if he were to win the job that he could do it. If you read my analysis of Trevor Anderson you saw how I said there would be a learning curve after sitting out a year. I think that Nichol has a bigger struggle because he has been out two.Â
Nichol can overcome and his teammates like him and he has the respect of the Coaches and team. Watching him battle this summer is sure to be a fun task for the Spartan Nation.
Here is video from earlier in the season with Nichol:Â LINK
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