Introducing Nick Martin and Jaden Nixon. This is Their Time

STILLWATER – We’ve already reported that the Cowboys have a pupil-mentor story going on at linebacker and defensive coordinator Derek Mason told me that he needs Xavier Benson, and for that matter Mason Cobb and Lamont Bishop to all be mentors, teachers to younger linebackers like the talented Nick Martin. Mentors are important for our two red-shirt freshmen we think possibly as soon as Thursday night when the opening game ends will be talked about by Cowboy fans. Running back Jaden Nixon has a mentor in Dominic Richardson and the 6-0, 215-pound Martin has Benson, one of the three older linebackers.

“Those three are all older guys. They have played a lot of football,” Mason said. “It hasn’t been here, but they have played a lot of football.”

Bruce Waterfield/OSU Athletics

Martin has excellent ball skills.

They have and Nick Martin first began watching Benson at their Pleasant Grove High School in Texarkana, Texas when Benson and Martin’s older brother were winning a Class 4A-Division II State Championship. Mason started a season at his first college choice in Texas Tech. He was the Defensive Player of the Year in the Southwest Junior College Football Conference and an All-American at Tyler J.C. The credentials and resume’ are there.

“He’s definitely a great player, so I want to model part of his game into my game,” Martin said. I grew up with him since seventh or eighth grade. My brother and him were good friends, basically family. It is always good to have him around critiquing my game. It’s ironic that we end up at the same school, crazy paths. God works in mysterious ways.”

I’ve witnessed it on the field, Benson and Martin work well together.

“Oh yeah, he’s a big help to me in the linebacker room,” Martin said. “He is an experienced player. It is great having him. He’s a coach on the field and I’m expecting great things from him.”

Bruce Waterfield/OSU Athletics

Clements can handle the rain with talented linebackers like Benson and Martin.

Linebackers coach Joe Bob Clements is expecting big things from Martin. He started talking about Martin this summer after seeing him in the spring. He is athletic and he is bold. It is the way he played in high school. He too was an All-State player at Pleasant Grove. Now, Martin has heard the talk from his coach and others inside the program. Martin is being complimented and pushed out there regularly as a potential standout.

“It just makes me want to work harder and keep proving myself,” Martin said of the talk. “Hopefully, I can show the world the player I can be and keep improving my brand and my name. Really, just keep grinding.”

They’ve come a long way since the start of fall camp when head coach Mike Gundy was projecting the linebackers would all get to where they lined up correctly.

"I hope so. I think there’s a better chance a large majority of the time they’ll line up right,” Gundy said back at the start of fall camp. “Sometimes, can they get confused because it’s new? Sure. I’d be willing to bet 100% that’ll happen at times. Most of them it does. Now, Benson, he’s somewhat of a vet because he’s played at a high level. His heart rate and his adrenaline shouldn’t be the extreme of what a Cobb would be, or what a (Lamont) Bishop would be, or a Nick Martin, those guys that are going to be in there, because they haven’t done it yet. Benson should be a little more mature in my opinion.”

Now he’s helped others like Martin to be ready. On the other side of the football, Jaden Nixon is not the biggest of backs, but you can look at his biceps and tell he’s done his due diligence in the weight room. The speedster is listed at 5-10, 185, but I’m betting closer to 190-pounds. He can flat out fly having clocked a 10.62 100-meter dash as a high schooler and posting a best of 21.71 seconds in the 200-meters. His mentor also ran track and has been thrust into a leader’s role in Dominic Richardson. 

“He’s gotten a lot better, for sure,” Richardson said on media day earlier this month. “He’s gotten bigger, as you can see. He’s been good, man. He’s physical. He’s picking up his blocks. A physical runner, he’s got the speed. He’s probably the fastest running back in here, I’m not gonna lie. He’s been doing great, man.”

Brett Rojo-USA TODAY Sports

Nixon says good-bye to TCU last season.

Nixon had his flash as a red-shirt last season with a 63-yard touchdown sprint in the TCU win, also the game Richardson got some revenge in as he rushed for 134-yards on just 12 carries. You see after he signed with them out of McGuinness, TCU and former head coach Gary Patterson cut him loose.

Now that’s a good mentor to teach you the finer points of pass protection and coverage identification and also how to extract a little revenge. Nixon seems to be, like Nick Martin, a good understudy.