Tyrone Nix (2003) - Southern Miss M-Club Hall of Fame

Tyrone Nix

Induction:
2003

Each year when you watch a football team grow, there always seems to be one player that emerges as the heart and the soul of that group of young men. A player that the others look up to when the going gets tough or that they look for to find the switch that seems to ignite the team to another victory.
   If you sat down and listed the great linebackers that have ever worn the Black & Gold, there is no doubt that Tyrone Nix would be included in that group. He would be included in that group because he was the complete package, who brought it all to the table and left nothing on the field when it was over.
    As a freshmen and a sophomore in 1990 and 1991 Tyrone was used primarily as a reserve linebacker and a member of the special teams. But when John Thompson arrived as the team’s defensive coordinator prior to the 1993 season and install the attacking style of defense that the Golden Eagles have become nationally known for, he blossomed into one of the school’s all-time greats.
   In 1992 in his first year as a starter he recorded an incredible 136 tackles, six tackles for losses, a quarterback sack, an interception, two caused fumbles and two pass breakups. That 1992 defense finished the year allowing only 17.7 points per game and finished eighth in the country in pass defense allowing just 93.2 yards per game. The team finished the year with a 7-4 record and won four of its last five games as the young defense jelled. The only loss during that stretch was a 24-20 loss at Florida.
   In 1993 as senior and one of the three captains of the team, he recorded 107 tackles with six tackles for losses, an interception, caused a fumble and four pass breakups.
He would finish his career with 294 tackles, 13 tackles for losses, a quarterback sack, two interceptions, three caused fumbles and seven pass breakups
   What made Tyrone so special as a football player was that fact that he wanted to do everything well and was willing to do whatever the team needed him to do to win. He wasn’t interested in individual honors like some players are, what was important to him was the team. If that meant spending more hours in the meeting rooms looking at videos of the opposition, if that meant spending more time on the practice field perfecting some technique necessary to beat an opponent, then that was what Tyrone was going to do.
   One special skill that Tyrone possessed was an ability to communicate to the rest of the defensive squad exactly what the coaches were trying to get across to them. He was like a computer when it came to the game plan, he knew it inside and out and had little patience with those that didn’t want to learn it just as well as he did.
   It was those skills and abilities that attract the attention of Coach Jeff Bower to hire Tyrone as his defensive tackles coach in 1995 despite the fact that he had never even been as much as a graduate assistant coach. Then after stints coaching the wolf linebackers and bandit ends and the defensive backs, he was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2001, at the time the youngest in the country.