DAVIS, Calif. -- As Week 3 of the UC Davis winter practice season winds down, we continue our ongoing series introducing Aggie fans to unsung heroes and up-and-comers within the football program. On a team of more than 100 student-athletes playing a variety of roles, some players are relative unknowns to even the most ardent followers. Once again, we highlight one player from each position group who UC Davis football fans should get to know.
Today, we go to the offensive line with Nick Amoah, a third-year mechanical engineering major from Davis.
WHY AGGIE FANS MIGHT NOT KNOW HIM:
For starters, offensive linemen often qualify as unsung heroes as a group, as it is the one position for which there are no official stats. Secondly, Amoah came in expecting to be a defensive lineman, only to switch to the offensive side of the trenches upon his arrival in 2017. Unfortunately, his career has largely been hampered by injury: this winter ball should be his sixth healthy camp as an Aggie, but it is only his second due to various setbacks. As a result, he redshirted in 2017 and largely held a reserve role in his redshirt freshman season of 2018.
WHY AGGIE FANS SHOULD KNOW HIM:
Many Aggie fans do know him, at least the local ones do: Amoah prepped just a mile north of campus at Davis Senior High, where he helped the Blue Devils reach the section playoffs as a senior. He also emerged as the starting left tackle down the stretch of the 2019 season, and (along with Malik Banks) is seeing significant reps in winter ball right now as Kooper Richardson and Colton Lamson nurse injuries in the offseason. O-line coach Tim Keane expects Amoah to get significant playing time this fall thanks to the growth he continues to make during the winter camp.
ACCORDING TO TIM KEANE, OFFENSIVE LINE COACH:
"Nick's an athletic guy, strong and explosive. The thing is to teach him how to be an offensive lineman – all of the calls and the nuances in reading the coverages, being able to make blitz adjustments. Most huddle teams have their centers do everything. Since we go fast, we take a little bit off our center and put it on our tackles. Our centers identifies a couple of things, and the tackles do a bunch of the adjustments and read coverage. They're always in a two-point stance, so it allows them to do that. He's getting a lot better every day at reading coverage and adjusting to calls."
"He's an engineer, so everything is sequential to him. So right now, we're teaching him 'this is the first step, this is the second, this is the third.' The more he does that, the more he'll be able to go from the first step to the fifth step almost instantaneously. That's where he's fun: he wants to know how everything works."
ABOUT UC DAVIS: Providing a small-town community feel while providing a world-class academic experience, UC Davis is home to more than 37,000 students and centrally located between San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, and the Napa Valley. The No. 5-ranked public university in the nation according to the Wall Street Journal, and among the top 10 public universities nationwide according to U.S. News and World Report, UC Davis offers nearly 100 graduate programs and more than 100 academic majors across four colleges and six professional schools, ranking among the world and nation's best in numerous disciplines, including veterinary science, agriculture, and plant and animal programs.
AGGIE EVO: Established in 2017-18, the Aggie EVO System is UC Davis Athletics' investment in the primary mission of preparing student-athletes for a successful "launch" after graduation. Thanks to a collaboration of alumni, university resources, corporate partners, coaches and Student-Athlete Outcomes staff, all Aggies are guided over four years to acquire the skills, knowledge, opportunities and tools to better know and navigate the "World of Work" after graduating from UC Davis. Follow the Aggie EVO system on Twitter and Instagram at @AggieEVO.
MARYA WELCH INITIATIVE: Named after the former physical education instructor, coach and Dean of Women who founded women's sports on the campus 25 years before the passage of Title IX, the Marya Welch Initiative for Women's Athletics provides comprehensive support for UC Davis' 16 women's athletics programs. Through the support of the Marya Welch Initiative and its group members, student-athletes are provided the best possible opportunity to succeed inside the classroom, and in competition, through special project gifts and by increasing visibility and participation at women's events throughout the year. All gifts to the Marya Welch Initiative are matched 1:1, doubling the impact on our women's programs. Visit this site for more information.
DON'T MISS OUT: Tickets for all UC Davis sports are on sale by contacting the Athletics Ticket Office at (530) 752-AGS1 or by visiting us online at tickets.ucdavis.edu.
