• At Navy: Enters the fall as Navy’s starting placekicker and kickoff specialist ... voted tri-captain by his teammates, which is the greatest honor a Navy student-athlete can receive ... believed to be only the second kicker in school history to be a team captain and the first placekicker (punter Bob Bowstrom was a team captain in 1930) ... has made 3 game-winning field goals during his career - 48 yards vs. Tulane in 2019, 23 yards vs. Kansas State in the Liberty Bowl in 2019 and 33 yards at Tulane in 2020 ... also scored the deciding points in the Mids’ 2020 win over Temple with a career-long 50-yarder ... was the first starting freshman kick for the Mids since Nick Sloan in 2012 ... tied for third on Navy’s all-time career extra points made list (105), second on the career field goals leader board (33) and second on the career list for most points scored by a kicker (204) ... with a quality senior season, would go down as the greatest kicker in school history ... has earned three varsity letters.
• 2021: Garnered Second-Team All-AAC recognition, as well as All-East honors ... finished the season as the team’s leading scorer with 73 points on 15 field goals (15 of 19) and is 28 PATs (28 of 28) ... he had 2 field goals blocked (Marshall, Cincinnati) and missed a 55-yarder at Memphis and a 53-yarder vs. Army ... with his 43-yard field goal against Army, he moved into a tie for second place alongside Matt Harmon (2005-08) for the most field goals in program history with 33 ... with his 2 PATs and 43-yard field goal against the Black Knights, he became just the second kicker in school history to reach 200-career points (204 pts) ... had an 8-point day at Temple with 5 PATs and a 32-yard field goal ... for the first time this season, he did not attempt a field goal in Navy’s Senior Day game against East Carolina ... connected on all 5 PATs against the Pirates ... made 49 and 21-yard field goals at Notre Dame, scoring Navy’s only points in the contest ... knocked down 29 and 46-yard field goals at Tulsa ... connected of 2 of his 3 field goals (33, 27) against #2 Cincinnati ... had his 51-yard field goal blocked by the Bearcats ... made a 36-yard field goal at Memphis before knocking what would have been a school-record 55-yarder wide left ... nailed a career-long tying 50-yard field goal against SMU ... connected on 24 and 23-yard field goals against UCF and was 4-for-4 on PATs ... made both field goal attempts (30, 36 yds) at Houston and was 2-for-2 on PATs ... connected on a 23-yard field goal against Air Force ... had his only field goal attempt (41 yds) against Marshall blocked by TJ Johnson after a high snap ... it was the second blocked FG of his career (2019, Elijah Riley of Army) ... made the tackle on the recovery by Eli Neal.
• 2020: Navy’s kicker in each of the 9 games in which he played ... was successful on 6 of hi 10 field goals and 16 of his 18 PATs, finishing as the team’s second-leading scorer with 34 points ... did not have the opportunity to kick against Army ... scored the Mids’ lone points against Tulsa with a pair of field goals (34, 32 yards) ... missed what would have been the game-tying field goal on a 45-yard attempts against Memphis with 4:42 left in the contest ... split the uprights on his only field goal attempt at SMU, a 46-yarder ... had his PAT blocked by Houston’s Payton Turner following the 60-yard touchdown pass from Dalen Morris to Ryan Mitchell in the second quarter ... it’s the first extra point blocked by an opponent since Reggie Robinson II of Tulsa blocked Bennett Moehring’s PAT on Nov. 17, 2018 ... missed a pair of field goals against the Cougars - 41 (10:58, 3Q) and 35 (10:32, 4Q) ... had his consecutive extra points made streak snapped at East Carolina after the snap was mishandled (following Dalen Morris’ TD at 3:48 in 2nd quarter) ... made 56 straight PATs which stands as the second-longest streak in program history ... connected on a career-long 50-yard field goal ... he is the first Navy kicker to make a 50-yard field goal since Jon Teague set the school record with a 54-yarder against Delaware on Sept. 3, 2011 ... after missing what would have been a school-record 57-yard field goal in the third quarter, he split the uprights on the game-winning 33-yard field goal as time expired at Tulane ... named the American Athletic Conference Co-Special Teams Player of the Week following his efforts against the Green Wave ... connected on a 48-yard field goal against BYU in the opener, the second longest of his career.
• 2019: Appeared in all 13 contests ... finished the year 12-17 (.706) on field goals and 61-62 (.984) on extra-points ... he is just the second kicker in Navy history to make at least 60 PATs in a single season ... the 61 are the second most in school history behind Bennett Moehring’s 66 in 2016 ... ended the year making 48 consecutive PATs which is tied (Nick Sloan, 2012-13 // Joe Buckley, 2009-10) as the fourth-longest consecutive PATs made streak in program history ... connected on bookend field goals against Kansas State, giving Navy a 3-0 lead on a 21-yard field goal and clinching the win for the Mids with a 23-yard field goal with 2 seconds left in the game ... also missed a 38-yarder in the fourth quarter ... was in on his second solo tackle of the year ... had his 29-yard field goal blocked by Army’s Elijah Riley, but came back to split the uprights on a 37-yard try ... connect on all 4 of his extra points against the Black Knights ... was 8 for 8 on PATs at Houston, tying his career best ... made 2 of his 3 field goals (41, 24 yds) in the win over SMU, while also going 3 for 3 on extra points ... missed a 41-yarder following a fumble recovery by the Mids on the first drive of the SMU contest ... handled the kickoff duties for a second straight game, averaging 58.0 yards on 7 kicks ... also chipped in a tackle, the first of his career, that thwarted a potential kickoff returned for touchdown by the Mustangs ... connected on a pair of field goals (27, 36 yds) at Notre Dame and was 2 for 2 on PATs ... also took over the kicking off duties against the Irish where he averaged 55.7 yards on 3 kicks ... went 8 for 8 on extra points, the most made by a Navy kicker since Bennett Moehring made 9 at SMU on Nov. 26, 2016 ... connected on a pair of field goals against Tulane, including the game-winner for 48 yards as time expired, to earn AAC Special Teams Player of the Week recognition ... it was the first game he made multiple field goals ... was 5 for 5 on PATs against the Green Wave ... was 5 for 5 on extra points against USF ... connected on his lone field goal at Tulsa (37 yds) and was 6 for 6 on extra points ... missed a 41-yard field goal against Air Force, but was 4 for 4 on PATs ... missed his first career extra point and also missed his first career field goal (46 yds) at Memphis ... was 2 for 3 on PATs and 1 for 2 on field goals ... connected on a then career-long 49-yard field goal against the Tigers ... it’s the longest field goal made by a Navy player since Jon Teague’s school-record 54-yarder against Delaware on Sept. 3, 2011 ... was 6 for 6 on extra points against East Carolina in the AAC opener ... made his collegiate debut in the Mids’ opener against Holy Cross ... made a 44-yard field goal, while connecting on all 6 PATs against the Crusaders.
• High School / Personal: A 2019 graduate of Rockwall-Heath High School, Nichols was a three-sport standout who earned letters in football (4), soccer (3) and track & field (2) ... two-time First-Team All-District kicker, who also garnered All-District honors as a punter his junior year ... named the 2016 All-District Newcomer of the Year in soccer and was a 2017 First-Team All-District midfielder ... member of the National Honor Society ... member of Mu Alpha Theta ... member of the Student Council ... cousin, Brady Petersen, graduated from Navy in 2019 and was a four-year member of the Mids’ football team ... uncle, Chuck Petersen, is a graduate of Air Force where he played football and later returned to coach at Air Force for 17 years and is currently an assistant coach at Navy ... son of Mike and Pari Nichols ... majoring in physics.
