Isaiah Nixon has been waiting for this moment — his moment — ever since he arrived at UCF in 2023.
It hasn’t been easy for the former four-star defensive end from Lakewood High School, but now that patience is about to pay off for the St. Petersburg native.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life, to be honest with you,” Nixon said recently.
Nixon, 21, enters this spring hungry for the opportunity to become the program’s next elite edge rusher. He’s spent the past three seasons living in the shadow of Malachi Lawrence, who, like Nixon, spent his entire career at UCF, growing into one of the elite pass rushers in the Big 12 before being selected in the first round of the recent NFL draft by the Dallas Cowboys.
Now it’s Nixon’s turn to make his mark with the Knights.
“I’m stepping into a new atmosphere and taking on a leadership role,” said Nixon. “I’m trying to help everyone become better. It’s been a roller coaster ride, but I’m still adjusting to just new dynamics.”
The 6-foot-4, 245-pound Nixon has appeared in 25 games over the past three seasons, primarily in a rotation role, totaling 36 tackles, including five tackles for loss with 2½ sacks.
He’s coming off a career-high 311 snaps on the defensive line last season, where he was the fourth-highest-graded edge rusher behind Lawrence, Nyjalik Kelly and Sincere Edwards, according to Pro Football Focus.
“Isaiah is extremely talented. He’s going to be a guy, it’s going to be really fun to watch this year,” said UCF edges coach Mike Dawson. “He has some great tools and with the more playing time he gets, the more reps he gets, you’re going to see his production go up.”
UCF enters the upcoming season in search of replacements for Lawrence and Kelly, who started every game last season. The unit must also replace Jamal Johnson, whose eligibility expired last season.
The three players combined for 20 tackles for loss and 10 sacks, accounting for nearly 30% of the team’s TFLs and 38% of its sacks.
Joining Nixon are returners Quentin Hatch, Aymeric Koumba, Anthony Coaxum and Edwards, who is battling back from an injury that limited him to just six games last season.
“I’m excited about a couple of guys that were here last year, between Isaiah, Sincere and Aymeric. Those guys have been around. They know my language, know my style and they know the drills, which has been great,” said Dawson.
Nixon and Edwards should be front-runners for the starting jobs based on their time with the Knights.
“The reps they got last season were very valuable. It’s not like they haven’t done this before. So, they have that under their belts,” said Dawson. “They need to continue to build on that and keep on adding to those reps and adding on from what they’ve learned when they played last year.”
The unit also added a trio of transfers in Bruno Dall, Ken Talley and L A Jessie Harrold, along with true freshman Alhassan Iddrissu.
“We have such a deep group and we have a long way to go,” said Dawson. “We’ve got a great, big summer ahead of us.”
Nixon credits his time with Lawrence and Kelly for helping him grow, not only as a leader but also as an edge rusher. How to develop a solid work ethic that he could take with him from the practice fields to gameday. With both headed to the NFL, it provides extra motivation for the redshirt junior.
“It motivates me to work harder and just follow in those footsteps,” Nixon said.
In an ever-changing college landscape, it would have been easy for Nixon to enter the transfer portal and find a new home, but that thought never entered his mind.