Falcons take Nicholas in fourth round

USF has its first draft pick since 2004, as linebacker Stephen Nicholas was taken by the Atlanta Falcons in the fourth round, with the 109th overall pick. Nicholas, a four-year standout for the Bulls who has USF's career sacks record, was the fifth outside linebacker taken. After lining up against Bobby Petrino when he coached at Louisville, Nicholas will now be working with the first-year Falcons coach.

Nicholas told me that when he interviewed with Petrino at the NFL combine workouts in Indianapolis, he didn't recognize Petrino at first, but he laughed and told NIcholas that he wished he'd left for the NFL a year earlier so his Cardinals wouldn't have had to face him last fall.

Stay tuned for more draft updates and free-agent signings tonight ...

Comments

[BA]

Great job Stephen! Now work hard and make all us Bulls proud!

Go Bulls!

[Dave]

What a steal. He's a real football player- hardnosed, tough, smart, and strong. When he's busting every other play the Bucs run while Quincy Black runs around like a chicken without a head, I'm sure people will recognize that Nicholas is the superior player. Good job Stephen and bust them Bucs!

[AnhVu Nguyen]

Good job Nicholas. He impressed Petrino enough to take him. USF players have always gone under the radar in the draft because of the school's exposure (Andre Hall). It took a coach who actually knew what Nicholas could do to pull the trigger.

[Dave]

Well AnhVu, we have had good draftable players, like Mitchell and the three guys in a row who didn't need exposure. I think there was a lack of a good QB really hurt several seniors in '04 and '05. Plus during those years, we went very young at LB and DB, so the talent there was good but young. Nicholas is the first of that group to hit the draft. Trae Williams, Jenkins, Moffit, and Amarri all should be drafted next year. The NFL doesn't care about exposure- look at the TE from D-III Whitwater College. The NFL wants measurables, and though we have good players, we haven't many NFL prototypes.

[Miles Lamoureux]

He should have gone alot sooner than he did. Its a shame that teams are scared to take a chance on a kid from an unknown school.

[Dave]

That's what I'm saying Miles- we aren't unknown. We have Kawika Mitchell at the same position- NFL teams know him. They know the Gramaticas, Anthony Henry, Shurron Pierson, Andre Hall, Frank Davis, and others. They know we're big time- no analyst had him over the 3rd round- I thought 3 or 4 would be fair for him. He should've gone ahead of Black, but realistically, Nicholas is only 230 pounds and not the fastest guy. But he's good, and they picked him where they should. The NFL will always find good players- in the next year or two, we will be a hotspot for players.

[Ryan Roark]

I love Steven Nicholas, but let's not forget (as has already been mentioned) that he's a 230-ish LB that ran close to a 4.8 40-yard dash.

Not too impressive.

He's got instincts and smarts, though, and that's what made him good at the college level.

[Ryan Feiss]

I agree that Nicholas was picked in the appropriate round. According to NFL tangibles such as height and weight he was a late rounder...but, he had the athletic tangibles and the college statistics to possibly go as high as the second or third. His NFL bio lists that he ran a 4.64 in the 40-yard dash (wind-aided) … 4.69 40-yard dash (against the wind). At the combine he had a 33½-inch vertical jump and he bench pressed 225 pounds 29 times(the second highest among all LBs). All of these are solid stats providing he was taller (6'3" instead of 6'1") and a little heavier (245lbs instead of 230lbs).

[Sandro]

I wanted to wish Nicholas all the best in his NFL career. He was a great football player for USF, and I hope he will have a great career in the NFL as well.

[Larry]

Nicholas will do fine! Besides the FSU linebacker picked by the Steelers was 6'0'' 230 lbs, and he was picked in the first round.

Go Bulls!

[Coach]

Derrick Brooks is only 6-0, 235 and I think he worked out ok.