Stephen Nicholas
American football player and coach (born 1983)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stephen Leron Nicholas (born May 1, 1983) is an American professional football coach and former player who is the defensive quality control coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He played seven seasons in the NFL as a linebacker for the Atlanta Falcons.
Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.
Nicholas with the Atlanta Falcons in 2013 | |||||||||||||
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Defensive quality control coach | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born | May 1, 1983 Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 236 lb (107 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school | Lee (Jacksonville) | ||||||||||||
| College | South Florida | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 2007: 4th round, 109th overall pick | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
Playing | |||||||||||||
Coaching | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Nicholas played college football for the South Florida Bulls. He was selected by the Falcons in the fourth round of the 2007 NFL draft.
Early life
Nicholas played high school football at Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville, Florida. As a senior, he was a class 3A all-state linebacker and was invited to play in the Shrine Bowl.
College career
Nicholas played college football at the University of South Florida. During his senior year, he was a Big East first-team selection. He finished his college career with 326 tackles, 20 sacks, and a school record 53.5 tackles for loss.
Professional career
Nicholas was selected by the Atlanta Falcons in the fourth round of the 2007 NFL draft with the 109th overall pick.[1] He finished his rookie year with 37 tackles and one sack. In 2008, he saw action in all 16 games during the season. In 2009, he started 14 games, totaling 82 tackles, 3 sacks. He started his first career game against Miami on September 13. Nicholas was released by the Falcons after seven seasons on February 5, 2014.[2]
NFL career statistics
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Bold | Career high |
Regular season
| Year | Team | Games | Tackles | Interceptions | Fumbles | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Cmb | Solo | Ast | Sck | TFL | Int | Yds | TD | Lng | PD | FF | FR | Yds | TD | ||
| 2007 | ATL | 13 | 0 | 33 | 29 | 4 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2008 | ATL | 16 | 0 | 20 | 16 | 4 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2009 | ATL | 16 | 13 | 80 | 65 | 15 | 3.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2010 | ATL | 16 | 11 | 78 | 64 | 14 | 0.0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2011 | ATL | 10 | 8 | 35 | 17 | 18 | 0.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 2012 | ATL | 16 | 15 | 97 | 72 | 25 | 2.0 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2013 | ATL | 14 | 3 | 35 | 21 | 14 | 1.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 101 | 50 | 378 | 284 | 94 | 8.0 | 18 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 0 | ||
Playoffs
Coaching career
In 2018, Nicholas was hired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to be their defensive quality control coach.
Personal life
Stephen Nicholas married then Irene Ledbetter (2007) and have 4 children. Nicholas is also a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity.