Florida turns to Nixon to solidify offensive line

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -When Florida freshman Xavier Nixon found out he was going to make his first career start, he kept it quiet.

He didn't tell friends or classmates. He didn't even tell his parents, two Army sergeants who were traveling to South Carolina for the game.

He wanted to surprise everyone. Boy, did he ever.

When the 6-foot-6, 285-pound left tackle jogged onto the field for top-ranked Florida's first snap against the Gamecocks last week, Nixon's parents started crying. Nixon wasn't even sure when they stopped.

"After the game, my mom was crying and stuff, and they were just telling me how proud they were," Nixon said.

The Gators (10-0) were just as pleased with his performance. Nixon, the first true freshman to start at left tackle for Florida since Reggie Green in 1992, helped solidify a unit that had allowed nearly as many sacks on Tim Tebow this season (23) as the previous two years combined (28).

South Carolina sacked Tebow twice in Florida's 24-14 victory, but considering Tebow had been taken down 15 times in the previous four games, it was one of the line's best outings this year.

"He did a great job," receiver David Nelson said. "Coming into the environment he came into, starting left tackle, a freshman for the No. 1 team in the country, on the road. It was a crazy environment. I think he's going to be a great player.

"He's listening, he's learning from the guys that have been there. He's not one of those guys that thinks he has all the answers. He's learning, he takes coaching real well and he's hungry."

Nixon probably will be back in the starting lineup Saturday when the Gators try to extend the nation's longest winning streak to 21 games against Florida International (3-7). He could be there for the next few years, too, becoming one of the cornerstone's of Florida's offense.

No one would be surprised by that.

Nixon was one of the nation's top offensive line prospects. The Fayetteville, N.C., native led Jack Britt High to the Class 4-AA state championship game, then committed to play for the Gators at the Army All-American Bowl in Orlando.

His father, Kenneth, was granted leave to witness the announcement. Kenneth Nixon was stationed in Afghanistan at the time and had gone through the trouble of getting every tape of his son's high school games mailed overseas to track his senior season.

Nixon's dad also wanted to make sure he stayed on the college path.

"They didn't want me to follow in their footsteps," he said. "They told me to go to school, get an education, do the best you can and make us proud."

So far, so good. Of the 16 players in coach Urban Meyer's prized recruiting class, Nixon has made the most strides and maybe the biggest impact.

Tebow could tell from Nixon's first practice that he was going to be special.

"When he came in, we saw that he was going to be a great player," Tebow said. "He had a lot of talent, but learning our system, our offense and playing as a freshman is really hard, especially at left tackle. It's not very easy. They kept working with him and working with him and working with him, and felt he was getting a lot better.

"He deserved an opportunity to go and he played well. He's got a lot of room to grow and he's going to be a great player. He's going to be someone who can play football for a long time and get better and keep growing and filling into that spot."

Nixon, the youngest of four children, bounced around a few Army bases as a child before settling outside Fort Bragg, N.C. His parents, who have more than 50 years of military service between them, served tours in Iraq while having to leave their kids behind.

"You see stuff on the news every day and you just hope they call and let you know they're OK," said Nixon, who often waited anxiously for their return flights at the base. "When they come off that plane, I feel much better."

Kenneth Nixon is currently stationed in Virginia and is a command sergeant major, the highest you can go in the enlisted ranks. His wife, Fotini, is training to become a sergeant major at Fort Hood, Texas. She was there two weeks ago when an Army psychiatrist allegedly shot and killed 13 people and wounded more than 30 others.

"She was as shocked as everybody else in the country was," Nixon said. "But thank God she was safe."

Given all his parents have been through, Nixon thought they could use a surprise. So that's why he didn't tell them about his first start, which came on a night when South Carolina honored the military with special uniforms.

"It kind of struck me a little bit when I saw the uniforms," Nixon said. "I just thought about my parents and what they've sacrificed for their country, and it just made me feel good."