USM senior Nix looking for wins, not revenge

By By Austin Bishop / EMG regional sports director
Sept. 17, 2002
Sure, Derrick Nix would love for his Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles to beat the University of Alabama on Saturday night in Tuscaloosa.
But don't think it has anything to do with revenge.
And also don't get in your mind that the Alabama game is the only one circled in red on the USM schedule.
But Nix, a 6-foot-2, 225-pound redshirt senior from Attalla, Ala., isn't trying to fool anybody about his intentions, or of the other USM players from the state of Alabama.
In fact, there are 17 Golden Eagles who hail from Alabama. The second-most next to Mississippi's 39. There are 16 from Louisiana and 15 from Florida.
He said that during his senior year he was offered a scholarship by the University of Alabama. Nix said his final four choices were USM, Alabama, Florida and Georgia Tech.
In the end, Nix chose USM.
Are there hard feelings?
And for USM to do that it would be helpful if Nix would keep averaging the 158 rushing yards a game he has put up on the way to the Golden Eagles' 3-0 start this year.
Now that's saying something.
He rushed for 196 yards and two touchdowns in USM's 33-14 win over Memphis last week and two weeks ago pounded the University of Illinois for 201 yards as the Golden Eagles won 23-20. And on top of that, as a freshman he rushed for 219 yards against the University of Nevada.
And while Nix would like to be at 100 percent Saturday against the Crimson Tide, he knows he is fortunate to be playing at all.
After sitting out last year following a well-publicized kidney ailment, some wondered just how good Nix would be.
It didn't take Nix long to figure it out.
While Nix is a tough, hard-nosed runner, he has also shown some speed this year, breaking loose for some big plays.
But he knows where a lot of that credit goes the offensive line.