He’s only a freshman, but several college football teams are already interested in the services of Julian Nixon.
The Centennial High School wide receiver picked up a scholarship offer last week from the Florida Gators. The school in Gainesville is the fourth to offer Nixon, lining up behind Georgia, Ohio State and Auburn, according to 247sports. Earlier this week, Nixon took an unofficial visit to Clemson.
In an interview with Rivals, Nixon’s high school coach Michael Perry compared him to Houston Texans’ quarterback DeShaun Watson, saying Nixon and Watson are the only two freshmen to ever start for him. Perry coached Watson at Gainesville High School.
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"Julian can be as good as he wants to be," Perry told Rivals. "To see what he was able to do as a freshman makes it scary to think about what he can be his junior or senior year."
As an eighth grader, Nixon attended a spring game at Georgia. Already on the Bulldogs' radar, he tallied 51 catches for 754 yards and seven touchdowns during his freshman campaign at Centennial, according to MaxPreps. The Bulldogs kept an eye on him, and offered him his first scholarship on Jan. 12.
Nixon said he was “surprised” and “happy” to get his first offer from Georgia.
"There is a lot of positive vibes at Georgia,” Nixon told Rivals. “I have been there before and I like the energy there. I like how everyone gets along, how everyone is happy around each other and it is just a positive feeling.”
Nixon did a little bit of everything on offense this past season for the 8-4 Centennial Knights. He threw three passes for 56 yards and two scores, and also rushed 38 times for 261 yards and six touchdowns.
Talking to Land Of 10, Nixon's father Reginald — who is an offensive line coach for Centennial — said Julian needs to be better at route running and be more explosive. But he also added this was the first year he had played organized football in a real offense, and always played quarterback in middle school because he was "the most athletic."
Whatever position he plays, it seems likely that this north Fulton County native playing big time college football in a few years.
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