Hogs’ transfer OL signee Nichols is always active
University of Arkansas offensive line signee Addison Nichols isn’t one to be idle, and because of that he’s packed a lot of life experiences into his 20 years.
Nichols, who turns 21 years old in May, was encouraged by his parents Brian and Missy to participate in activities that would benefit him in his growth as a person while growing up.
He started scouting in first grade and saw it as an opportunity to spend time with his father and that eventually led him to becoming an Eagle Scout.
In order to achieve Eagle rank, a scout must earn at least 21 merit badges, fulfill leadership roles and display outdoor skills, demonstrate by example the Scout Oath and Law and complete a comprehensive service project in the community.
“The biggest thing I took away from the Eagle Scout process is patience through the process and work ethic,” Nichols said. “It’s not instantaneous, there’s a ton of stuff that goes into being an Eagle Scout and I really had not near the patience for that. The process was incredibly long and it really taught to just trust the process and follow the path I need to.”
While in the process of becoming an Eagle Scout, Nichols also spent approximately 9 years in Taekwondo before becoming a second degree black belt.
“It definitely helped with my athleticism and flexibility,” Nichols said. “I’ve honestly lost a bunch of that flexibility but at the time it was good flexibility and it was good eye to hand coordination. The hands were honestly great. Being able to block punches and deflect kicks helps with blocking hands in football and hand placement from punches and stuff like that.”
In addition to playing football at Greater Atlanta Christian School, he played basketball, golf and threw the discus and shot put in track and field.
He also found time to volunteer with numerous charitable organizations, including providing support for terminally ill children with Lighthouse Ministries along with coaching participants in the Special Olympics and working with 7 Bridges Ministries to help the homeless and people with addictions.
He and other athletes will be honored in March at Peach of an Athlete Role Model Banquet at Truist Park in Atlanta. Donations from the event will support the Scouting program in the metro Atlanta area.
Nichols also worked at Kroger for 4 years while volunteering, scouting, taking part in Taekwondo, playing sports and being a member of the National Honors Society and Beta Club.
“It was very tough having school and then practice and then all this extra work and then working at Kroger on top of that,” Nichols said. “There were many times when I was like, ‘Golly, why am I doing this?’ ”
A football team captain as a junior and senior, Nichols worked as a bagger, restocked dairy and then was promoted to produce. His experiences gave him work place life skills.
“It helps me with me being able to be a leader in football because I got to deal with so many people,” Nichols said. “I got to figure out how to work with everybody and it helps me out with football because everyone is different and I got to work with so many people, so I basically know how to work with any type of person at this point.”
Nichols, 6-5, 327 pounds, was a consensus 4-star prospect in the 2022 class and was selected to play in the All-American Bowl in San Antonio before being an early enrollee at Tennessee.
He was one of five out of the 100 players at the All-American Bowl nominated for Man of the Year and selected to be featured in a 5-minute video produced by NBC.
He redshirted his freshman season after appearing in two games. He also was named to the SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll.
Nichols played in every regular-season game for the Volunteers in 2023. He announced he was entering the NCAA transfer portal on Dec. 4 and officially visited Arkansas, Clemson and Georgia Tech before picking the Hogs.
While in Knoxville, Nichols — who received word Satuday of his nomination to the National Society of Leadership and Success — was selected to participate in VOLeaders Academy, which gave student-athletes at Tennessee the ability to use their platform to be a positive force for their team, campus, and local and global communities.
Nichols, who taught himself to play the piano, guitar, ukulele and violin, went to the Philippines on a mission trip with the VOLeaders Academy.
He and other student-athletes visited schools and interacted with university students and school-aged children in very modest settings.
“We asked some of the kids ‘Hey, if you could go anywhere in the world right now where would you want to go? Where would you want to live?’ ” Nichols said. “Every single kid said nowhere, we would want to stay here at our home. These kids are living in wooden, cardboard shacks that are handmade and they’re the happiest people on the planet.”
The experience will be something he never forgets, he said.
“I don’t think I’ve ever felt a feeling like that before,” Nichols said. “Being able to just play with the kids that were grateful that we were there and grateful for what they had. They didn’t need anything else. They just wanted a basketball, a volleyball. Something simple and just for us to play with them, I’ll always remember that for the rest of my life. It was an incredible experience.”