Tuesday, August 24, 2010
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Torrance Nicholson
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Youngstown State senior defensive lineman Torrance Nicholson is a finalist for the Good Works Team, sponsored by Allstate. The award recognizes college football players for their community involvement.
By JOE SCALZO
YOUNGSTOWN
He’s enormous man with an enormous heart. He’s a defensive lineman who’s not afraid to get nasty in the trenches and get nice away from them. He’s an accounting major in a sport not known for producing scholars.
In short, YSU senior Torrance Nicholson is a good guy who does good works. And that’s why he’s among the finalists for the 2010 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team.
“It’s a great honor,” said Nicholson. “I just hope I can live up to it.”
The honor recognizes football players for their community service contributions away from the game. Nicholson (6-foot-2, 290 pounds), a three-year letterman from Columbus who was named a team captain on Saturday, is one of 112 nominees over all levels of college football. From those nominees, a selection panel will choose two 11-player Good Works teams — one for the Football Bowl Subdivision (Div. I-A) and the other for the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, Divisions II, III and NAIA.
Nicholson’s community service experience includes volunteering as an instructor for the Youngstown City Schools’ youth football camp and the Rich Center for Autism football camp. Nicholson has also spent time attending classes and working closely with students with disabilities at Fairhaven School and visited numerous local elementary schools for three years promoting physical skills and helping kids to read.
When asked where that unselfishness comes from, Nicholson just shrugged and said, “Really, that’s just the way it is around here. It’s the family nature at Youngstown State University.
“We’ve got to give back to better this place. It all starts here with these guys and our coaches and the whole community.”
Nicholson said his favorite part is working with kids.
“Anything with little kids,” he said. “They’re so fun and they always put a smile on your face.
“No matter how bad you’re feeling or how tired you are at practice, you go over there and talk to them and they’ll brighten your day.”
In 2006, YSU linebacker Jeremiah Wright was selected to the team. Last season, offensive lineman Brian Mellott (Fitch) was a finalist.
Nicholson, who graduated from Marion Franklin High, redshirted in 2006, then was named to the Gateway’s All-Newcomer team as a freshman in 2007. He also earned honorable mention all-conference that season.
Nicholson played just six games in 2008, missing six with a broken foot. Still, he started five contests and compiled 32 tackles.
Last season, he played in all 11 games and started one, compiling 26 tackles.
Nicholson made the Missouri Valley Football Conference’s Honor Roll last season, which includes players who earned a minimum 3.2 grade point average for the fall term. He’s not certain what he plans to do with his accounting degree — he came to practice Monday fresh off an auditing class and said you can safely rule that out — but points to YSU athletic director Ron Strollo as a possibility. Strollo earned an accounting degree at YSU before heading into sports administration.
“I kind of want to stay around sports somehow,” he said.
After YSU coach Eric Wolford was hired in December, Nicholson became an immediate favorite with the new staff, who appreciated his talent and his leadership. His strong spring continued into the summer, where he and senior guard Eric Rodemoyer were in charge of making sure their teammates attended conditioning and stayed on task on and off the field.
After a good training camp, Nicholson (along with Rodemoyer, senior WR Dominique Barnes and senior CB Brandian Ross) was named a team captain.
“Obviously, he was voted captain for a reason,” Wolford said. “If coaches were voting for captains, he would have got our vote, too.”