Bee’s Best poll: Winner of offensive player poll grows his game and a killer pandemic beard
Sean Nixon might look different, if you haven’t run into him during a COVID-19 season nobody wanted or invited.
The Sheldon High School senior quarterback is a hair taller this fall as compared to a year ago at 6-foot-2. He is some 30 pounds heavier at 180 pounds, the benefit of a strength and conditioning program and a hearty died that includes scarfing down chicken and burgers and gallons of milk.
And there’s the Nixon beard. It expanded during the coronavirus pandemic shutdown when there wasn’t much to do early on but shelter in and watch hair grow. Nixon has since trimmed the thatch, but it’s still there, and so is the rest of his game.
Nixon as a team leader has led conditioning workouts for the Huskies in anticipation that the delayed seasons in California tied to COVID-19 will kickoff come January. He’s counting on it.
Nixon is already off to a fun start, having won The Bee’s “top player” poll on the area’s best offensive talent (new polls coming: defensive stoppers, linemen, top regional programs). This poll generated nearly 70,000 votes. Nixon was among a host of area players dotted on The Bee’s preseason watch list.
Nixon passed for 1,766 yards and 12 touchdowns and just three interceptions as a junior despite running for his life half the time. It’s been nearly a year since Nixon has suited up in a real game.
He said this week he misses the sport. So does his younger brother Scott, a slot receiver with the Huskies. So does their Sheldon-coaching father Chris, and their football-fanatic mother Tina.
“It’s definitely weird not having football,” Nixon, the passer, said. “This time of year, not having games, it’s not normal. My body is confused. And it’s tough for me because I live off that competitive nature. It drives me.”
Nixon grew up around the sport. He and Scott were ball boys for six powerhouse Elk Grove playoff teams, each coached by their father, and they played youth games in the area.
Nixon said he learned a lot by watching their father coach: accountability, highs and lows in games and practices, and that the teams that prepare the best, win the most.
“For me, especially being around my dad, I learned everything,” Nixon said. “If I wasn’t around those players and those teams he coached, I’d be a different person right now. That’s why I tell my teammates that I don’t mean to sound like I know it all, but I’ve been around a lot of football. I’ve seen what it takes. Everything is out of love. Have to love your teammates, your coaches and the game, and to have fun.”
Nixon ribs his sophomore brother about grades. Nixon sports a 4.0 grade point average and Scott a 4.25.
“I tell him, ‘Try to keep even with me, OK?” Nixon said with a laugh. He said he plans to play in college somewhere and he wants to get into teaching and coaching, much like his father, who followed in his father’s footsteps.
Marshall Nixon coached Chris Nixon at Nevada Union High in the early 1980s. Says the proud pop, “Proud of my sons!”
This story was originally published October 23, 2020 at 12:41 PM.