Former Viera Hawk, Nixon, now an NFL WR
MELBOURNE, Fla. (BVM) — The University of Central Florida just had its largest-ever group of Knights hear their names called in the NFL Draft, and former Viera Hawk, Tre Nixon, was part of that historical club. The New England Patriots selected Nixon with their seventh round pick, 242nd overall.
For many Viera fans, this might have been a long time coming. During his senior season as a Hawk, Nixon dominated Brevard County high school football, accumulating 1,224 receiving yards to go along with 18 touchdowns. This led the Hawks to the FHSAA state championship game where they fell short to perennial powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas.
Those flashes of tip-top potential earned him a scholarship at Ole Miss where he stuck around for just two seasons, one of them a redshirt year. When he decided to transfer to UCF, he caught on instantaneously and began to blossom into the NFL receiver he is now.
In less than three seasons with UCF, Nixon registered 108 catches that went for 1,652 yards and 13 touchdowns. He started his first 27 games with the team before missing his first game in 2020 due to injury.
Nixon’s name was called along with teammates Richie Grant, Aaron Robinson, Jacob Harris and Tay Gowan. Those five beat out UCF’s previous record of drafted players (four), which were its 2018 class highlighted by Mike Hughes and its 2003 class featuring Asante Samuel.
