As Jaden Nixon made his way home following UCF’s season-opening win against Jacksonville State two weeks ago, the redshirt senior running back couldn’t get his performance out of his head.
Three touches for minus 10 yards.
Not the debut that Nixon was hoping for with the Knights.
“I’m driving home and I’m like, ‘Man, I’ve got to wait a whole week to show what I can do,” Nixon recalled. “But I just showed up on Monday and went to work. I showed up on Tuesday and went to work. The whole week, I just showed up and went to work.”
His new teammates were there for him throughout the week, reminding Nixon to brush it off.
“They’re telling me, you’re going to be straight, everything’s going to work out and God has a plan for you,” Nixon said.
It didn’t take long for Nixon to repay everyone for their support.
TV, kickoff time set for UCF’s home game vs. Bill Belichick and North Carolina
Thirteen seconds into Saturday’s contest with North Carolina A&T, Nixon was celebrating with teammates and coaches after his 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
“I can’t take all the credit to myself,” Nixon said. “As I’m returning [the kick], I’m watching guys just wash everybody over and the middle opened up. It’s a great feeling. It’s a blessing.”
“He had it in his eyes. I knew he was going to take it to the house right out the gate,” said edge rusher Nyjalik Kelly. “We all saw the film of him last year, so we already knew he’s got speed and he’s explosive.”
The last Knight to open a game with a kickoff return for a touchdown was Quincy McDuffie on Nov. 20, 2010, and it was the first kickoff return for a touchdown since Mike Hughes in 2017.
Nixon wasn’t done.
At the start of the second quarter, he took a handoff from quarterback Tayven Jackson and raced 87 yards for a touchdown and into the history books. Nixon became the first Knight in school history with a kickoff return touchdown and a rushing touchdown in the same game.
“We’ve been talking to him as fast as he is; he just needs to run through the smoke and make sure that he’s not always trying to stop and juke,” coach Scott Frost said
“It’s one thing to hear that as a running back, that you’re not hitting it hard enough,” Nixon recalled of the conversation. “I was like, ‘What have I got to do now?’ So all week I was going at it hard, taking cuts and making hits that I haven’t been making as much as I used to.”
Clearly, the work paid off.
UCF sees bye week as a chance to get healthy, correct mistakes
Nixon would add another rushing touchdown in the third quarter: a 66-yard run that pushed the lead to 47-0 before eventually winning 68-7.
Five touches for 252 yards, three total touchdowns.
The 252 all-purpose yards were the most by a Knight since Rannell Hall’s 277 yards in 2013.
Nixon’s performance earned him Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week honors, the first by a Knight since former running back RJ Harvey last September.
“The offensive line did a great job of giving me opportunities to perform and do what I can do,” Nixon said. “You never know how it’s going to hit. … It was just a blessing to be able to be put in that position.”
Matt Murschel can be reached at mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com
