Nick Basquine, Career Underdog, is Ready for his Shot at the NFL

Nick Basquine is right where he’s always been: He’s an underdog, and he’s learned to thrive from it.

Basquine’s NFL process has been much like his college process: everyone is selling him short. Everyone is assuming he can’t do it. And he’s OK with that.

“That’s kind of like been the story of my life,” Basquine said last week after his Pro Day. “It’s nothing new to me.”

Basquine fulfilled his childhood dream when he walked on at Oklahoma out of Norman North High School. He redshirted his first season in 2014, which is to say he didn’t play. At all. Typical for freshman. Certainly typical for walk-ons.

Then again in 2015, he never got on the field.

To that point, Basquine wasn’t disgruntled. He was a young, non-scholarship player paying his dues. He was working hard and making plays on the scout team. Coaches started to take notice — even the new offensive coordinator, Lincoln Riley.

Then, as Riley caught his rhythm as a Power 5 play-caller and Baker Mayfield emerged as one of college football’s top quarterbacks, Basquine caught a ray of sunlight.

In 2016, he caught 20 passes for 265 yards and scored two touchdowns: three catches and a touchdown against Louisiana-Monroe, including a 62-yard TD grab. Four catches against TCU. Four catches and a touchdown in the unforgettable 66-59 win at Texas Tech. Four catches at Iowa State.

Seemed Nick Basquine can play big-time Division I football after all. Bob Stoops thought so, too, by awarding Basquine a scholarship that year.

Then, adversity derailed Basquine’s sudden emergence. In the summer of 2017, he tore his Achilles tendon. Just like that, his junior season was over before it ever started.

He rehabbed like crazy and returned to the field the following spring, but then tore his other Achilles’. Not only had Cinderella lost her glass slipper, but she replaced it with a walking boot.

Basquine, however, wasn’t done.

“Seems like when my back’s against the wall,” he said, “I step up and make an impression where I need to.”

Basquine somehow made it back in time for the 2018 season. As a senior, he played in all 14 games and caught seven passes for 134 yards. Seemed a fitting end of a career for a true underdog: he fought the good fight, he finished the race, he went out on his terms.

But Basquine applied for a sixth year of eligibility, and when the NCAA granted his medical hardship, he flashed some of that 2016 brilliance by catching 18 passes for 272 yards: Three catches against Houston. Two catches against Kansas. Two more against Kansas State (including a 70-yarder), Baylor, Oklahoma State and Baylor again in the Big 12 title game.

“Just mentally, to come back from two Achilles’ “ said Riley, “I know it’s nothing new for us around here that have been around him and followed his story and been a part of it, but just the mental toughness it takes just to come back from that and produce the way he has, (he’s) really become a complete player … that excelled on special teams and I think that will be a huge factor for him going forward.”

Basquine also is as three-time first-team Academic All-Big 12 honoree who holds a bachelor's degree in management and a Master's degree in adult and higher education. That will serve him well in football and beyond.

But Riley is among those true believers who thinks Basquine's football opportunities are not over.

“You’ve got to believe his best ball’s ahead of him as he continues to gets further away from those injuries and kind of finds the best version of himself,” Riley said.

NFL scouts showed up to Norman last week to watch the Sooners work out, and even though they occasionally mispronounced his name, they couldn’t help but notice his results.

Basquine’s 40-yard dash time was 4.50 seconds, tied for fastest among all Sooners. His broad jump (10 feet, 2 inches) was near the top, as was his vertical jump (35 1/2 inches). He also posted good times in the shuttle run (4.50) and the 3-cone (7.28), and his bench press total of 19 was surpassed on the day by only defensive tackle Marquise Overton (20) and offensive tackle R.J. Proctor (29).

Not bad for a walk-on with two rebuilt heels.

“Awesome to see where he came from,” Riley said, “and here he is working out for the entire professional football world today, and did a great job of it.”

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