Hardy Nickerson Jr.: LB · Illinois · #47.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Hardy Nickerson Jr.
Is steady in every phase without a signature trait. The two seasons span two programs and two head coaches: Sonny Dykes and Lovie Smith. On tape: 14 tackles and 1 sack against Michigan, Week 8, 2016.
Play style
Solid in every phase without a signature dimension.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
107 tackles. 0 passes defended. 2 interceptions. 5.5 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
LancasterOnline Oct 25
Yahoo Sports Oct 25Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Illinois | 107 | 38 | 5.5 | 2.0 | 2 |
| 2014 | California | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 |
| Career | 107 | 38 | 5.5 | 2.0 | 3 |
There is no official box score for these seasons, so this sack count comes from the play-by-play.
Each sack is credited to the player named on the play, and a sack shared by two players counts as half for each. We checked the same method against the official box scores for 2016 to 2019: it lands within half a sack for about 9 in 10 players. Tackles and passes defended are not shown for these seasons because the same check does not hold for them. Source: SportsDataverse play data.
Game log · Week-by-week
2016 season · 12 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 52-3vs Murray State | 11 | 8 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | L 23-48vs North Carolina | 11 | 3 | 2.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | L 10-34vs Western Michigan | 7 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | L 16-31@ No. 15 Nebraska | 10 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | L 31-34vs Purdue | 8 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | W 24-7@ Rutgers | 11 | 4 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | L 8-41@ No. 3 Michigan | 14 | 6 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 14 tackles |
| Wk 9 | L 17-40vs Minnesota | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | W 31-27vs Michigan State | 10 | 6 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | L 3-48@ No. 7 Wisconsin | 7 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 0-28vs Iowa | 11 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | L 21-42@ Northwestern | 4 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 107 | 38 | 5.5 | 2.0 | 2 | 0 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
Tackle volume
107tackles this seasonTFL rate
5%6 TFLSack rate
2%2 sacksPD rate
0%0 pass breakups107 tackles · 5.5 for loss · 2 sacks · 2 interceptions.
Splits · Per-game
2016 season · 12 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 8.7 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| Road5g | 9.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 9.7 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 8.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Lovie Smith
Pass share
50.8%
358 pass / 347 run
Plays / game
58.8
12 games
Team sack rate
4.9%
387 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced, slow tempo.
Player standing · 2016
107 tackles in 12 games, more tackles a game than nearly every FBS linebacker who plays every week.
How it ended
Two seasons, at California and Illinois, 107 tackles — the college career is complete.
Coaching lineage · 2012–2016
3 coachesPlayed for 3 head coaches at 2 schools: Jeff Tedford, Sonny Dykes and Lovie Smith.
