Buffs WR Nixon Going Extra Mile To Make Sure 2019 Yields Success
July 15, 2019 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — After two straight losing seasons, two seasons of the Colorado Buffaloes coming up short in crunch time, CU's K.D. Nixon is doing everything within his power to make sure 2019 produces a different story line.
Emphasis on "everything."
"Now I understand," Nixon said recently, in between summer workouts. "When you are a freshman, you don't see the big picture. You just want to play football, you just want to get out on the field, so you do what everyone else is doing. But as you get older, you begin to understand what it takes. You understand you have to do more. You learn what's important and what you have to do to be special."
That means more than what is simply required. More than just the five-day-a-week workouts on the Buffs' summer schedule.
It means a 24-7 regimen, a dedicated process that embraces strength, conditioning, recovery, mind and body.
"Me and Viska (roommate and fellow wide receiver Laviska Shenault Jr.) — we want to be legendary," Nixon said simply. "Even though Viska had a good year, that's in the past. People don't get that. We're not stuck on last year. We know what we need to work on. We know we have to be better blockers. We know we need to better teammates. We know we have to stay healthy. We know we need to make bigger plays to take this team where we want to go."
All of which means Nixon and his longtime pal have a dedicated, disciplined summer schedule that includes far more than the morning strength and conditioning sessions.
Those sessions they attack with vigor. Under the guidance of CU strength coach Drew Wilson, the summer conditioning workouts are no doubt the core of their preparation.
But Nixon and Shenault have incorporated more into their summer regimen. Pilates workouts. Yoga. Cryogenic chamber therapy. Sauna sessions. Training room treatments twice a day.
All geared to not only prepare them for the 2019 season, but to ensure that their bodies will be able to withstand the rigors of the season and keep them healthy from beginning to end. It is a regimen they have adapted from watching and learning from NFL stars such as Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry and one they have incorporated into their everyday lives.
Every day.
"The extra work is something that was installed in us at DeSoto (High School)," Nixon explained. "Doing more is just showing that we're not in competition with anybody else, we're just trying to be better for ourselves. The people we look up to, Odell and Jarvis, that's all they did. If they do it, we have to do more. It's not competition. It's learning. God put them in front of us to show us."
Both Nixon and Shenault are keenly aware of how injuries can derail a season. Last year, Shenault missed three full games in the middle of the season, a stretch that coincided with the beginning of a seven-game Colorado slide. Nixon technically missed just one full game, but was not healthy for most of the final stretch.
It is something both want to avoid this season.
"That hurt our feelings," Nixon said. "Not being able to play, not being able to contribute. The only thing I can do now is do what we do know — get treatment twice a day, go in the cryo, go in a sauna. Do everything possible. Now, when the season comes, I paid my dues. People think you just take care of your body in the season. No, you have to do it right now because now is when you are doing the most. This how you get ready for football. You sacrifice now. The payoff comes later."
It is no coincidence that their expanded dedication comes with the arrival of new head coach Mel Tucker, whose emphasis on conditioning and preparation has been a priority for the entire team.
"Coach Tucker said conditioning makes the program," Nixon said. "When he said that, we knew we had to condition harder than ever, and that's what we're doing. He brings a whole different structure into this program. We have to be disciplined. No matter what happens, we have to be disciplined, whether it's in the weight room or on the field running."
And that new structure, Nixon said, has manifested itself in the weight room.
"Coach Drew has turned it up another notch," Nixon said. "His expectations have gone up a level. Even with him yelling at us, we know it's out of love. We know he wants the best for us."
It has not been easy. The summer sessions have no doubt dramatically increased in intensity. But the Buffs are seeing the benefits, and when Tucker and his staff see their squad in fall camp, Nixon believes they will see the improvement.
"That first week of fall camp, we will be highly conditioned," Nixon said. "We are in way better condition than we have been the last two years. We have never worked out this hard. Coach Drew is in attack mode. During the moment, you can say we hate it — but when we go home after our workouts, we literally say we're closer to being the team we want to be. We know we're getting better."
Nixon and a close cadre of his teammates have also incorporated more film study into their summer schedules. Every day, he said, they spend time watching and learning.
"Sometimes we'll have as many as 15 of us going home and watching film," Nixon said. "Me and Viska, we watch NFL film every day. In the summer, nobody watches film. But we watch film every day. We call (quarterback Steven) Montez and say, 'Hey, I can run this route three ways.' Now he knows where we're going to be, and he's going to throw it right there. We're building that connection. We throw all the time, but we're also learning, building that communication."
The bottom line, Nixon said, is a team bond that has strengthened.
"We really love each other," Nixon said. "There's no selfish hate, no spite. I want to block now. That's the biggest thing I fixed this year. I want to block. I want to be that guy that the scouts look at and say, 'He's not getting the ball but he's still blocking.' That's what our coaches are preaching. That's what they want us to do and we're all buying in. Everybody wants to get us back to winning."
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
