‘Nick The Pick’ Stepping Up For James Wood Football

Posted: November 6, 2014

By KEVIN TRUDGEON

The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — This season did not start out all that great for Nick Manuel.

In fact, the James Wood senior wide receiver/defensive back was benched during the Colonels’ opener against Heritage.

“I wasn’t playing well and [defensive backs] Coach [Brian] Thomas actually pulled me out,” Manuel said. “I wasn’t playing with a lot of confidence and he was like, ‘I know you’re better than this, I know you can play better.’

“And then he gave me a second chance and put me back out there and [Heritage] tested me and I made a big play.”

That big play was an interception on a deep pass from Pride quarterback Cameron Knight that Manuel out-jumped the receiver on and returned down the James Wood sideline, igniting his team in the process and setting up an eventual scoring drive.

The Colonels would end up losing that game, but they’ve gone 4-4 since then — a far cry from back-to-back 1-9 seasons — and the play of Manuel has been a big reason why.

After playing free safety as a junior last year, the 5-foot-9, 155-pound Manuel was moved to cornerback by Thomas this season and has flourished.

Starting with his interception against Heritage, Manuel has registered at least one takeaway in five of James Wood’s nine games this season, and very nearly had a couple more.

His seven interceptions on the season are three more than anyone else in the area, and it seems like any time the Colonels need a big play on defense they can count on “Nick the Pick” to step up.

“He’s been huge for us,” said fellow senior quarterback Brady Hepner, who lines up at safety on defense. “From last year to this year it’s been eye-opening to see how good he’s become. I know he played a lot of football in the offseason, a lot of 7-on-7 and stuff, and it’s showing in his play on the field. He’s always in the right place at the right time.”

That was certainly the case against Warren County in Week 3, when Manuel picked off not one, but two passes to help James Wood get its first win of the season.

The first one came on the opening possession of the game, when he stopped what looked like a promising drive by the Wildcats with an interception at the Colonel 12-yard line.

He returned that one 25 yards to set up a scoring drive for James Wood, picked off another pass in the second half, and added an electrifying 74-yard touchdown catch and run in between as part of a 36-0 rout.

“All he does is make plays. He’s got instincts, he plays the ball well when it’s in the air and he catches everything,” said defensive coordinator Bryan Smelser about Manuel, who also leads the Colonels with 16 catches for 321 yards and a pair of scores.

“And a couple times I’ve seen him bait a quarterback. He’ll sit back on a route, particularly when we’re in zone coverage and he’s basically playing a divide technique between two receivers and he’ll sit on the outside route. And the quarterback will throw it to the seam and he’s right there over the top to make a play. His instincts are what set him apart from guys who just run.”

Those instincts were on display in Week 5 against Fauquier, when Manuel jumped a route he’d seen the Falcons runs a few times already for one interception and sniffed out a pass play for another.

“Earlier in the game they threw a hitch route on the backside on third down, and it was 1-on-1 and I came close to breaking it up but I just missed,” Manuel said.

“So I knew they were going to go back to it. It was third down again and I saw the quarterback looking at my guy and I could tell before the play there was a lot of eye contact, so when he threw it I just jumped it.”

That gave Manuel a shocking six interceptions through the first five games of the season — he also had one in Week 4 against Strasburg when he came off the receiver he was covering to pick off an overthrow over the middle — and he would add his seventh in perhaps the Colonels’ biggest win of the season, a 21-20 victory over Millbrook in Week 9.

For a guy who only had one interception all of last year, getting seven in nine games wasn’t exactly an expectation, but his teammates and coaches aren’t surprised.

“He’s a great athlete and I knew he had it in him,” said Manuel’s younger brother Dillon, who lines up at the other cornerback position. “I wouldn’t have guessed he’d have seven, but I knew he was going to get some. He just seems to make great plays whenever we need him too.”

Manuel credits the play of James Wood’s defensive line and linebackers, who he says have forced more than a few throws under pressure that he has benefited from, and his work with Thomas, who is in his first-year on the James Wood coaching staff.

Manuel said Thomas not only moved him to cornerback, but that he also stresses the fundamentals every day in practice and challenges Manuel to cover the opposing team’s No. 1 receiver most weeks.

“I like that responsibility, I want that challenge,” said Manuel, who has both shadowed a receiver and stayed on just one side of the field in games this season.

“In that first game [against Heritage] I really didn’t have confidence in myself, but the coaches always told me I could be the best defensive back in the district if I played with confidence and once I started doing that great things started happening. Now I believe every week that we can come in as a defense and just make big plays.”

Perhaps the biggest challenge of the season will be Friday’s game against rival Handley. Not only do the Judges present some of the best receivers Manuel and the Colonels will face this season in seniors Dontae Mauck and Justin Washington, but the game will most likely serve as an elimination game with James Wood currently ranking 15th and Handley ranking 17th in the VHSL 4A North Region Power Ratings (only the top 16 receive playoff berths).

Manuel said he’s excited about the opportunity to face Handley — he was burnt a couple of times last year during a 49-15 loss to the Judges and wants to atone for that Friday — and that he plans on doing whatever it takes to help James Wood win the game and return to the playoffs for the first time in three years.

That could mean hauling in catches from Hepner to help keep drives alive, coming up in run support to stop Handley’s ground game or doing what he does best — picking off passes and sparking the Colonels.

“That first game when Coach Thomas benched him, he just wasn’t playing real sure of himself,” Smelser said. “So we had him over on the sideline for a couple plays and he was a little down, kicking the dirt a little bit. But as soon as he went back in he got that first pick and he came down our sideline with it and we were all jumping up around and getting on the field. I think we even got a sideline warning called on us.

“That play brought us right back in it after a rough start and it made it a competitive game. From that point on he really started believing in what he was doing, and it’s shown in his play on the field.”

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