 Nash in 2019 | |
| San Jose State Spartans–No. 3 | |
|---|---|
| Position | Wide receiver |
| Class |  |
| Major | Business administration |
| Personal information | |
| Born: | Irvine, California, U.S. |
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
| Weight | 195 lb (88 kg) |
| Career history | |
| College |
|
| High school | Woodbridge (Irvine, California) |
| Career highlights and awards | |
Nick Nash is an American football wide receiver for the San Jose State Spartans.
Nash attended and played football and baseball at Woodbridge High School in Irvine, California. In 2017, he was named Pacific Coast League Offensive Most Valuable Player. Nash passed for 1,728 yards and 18 touchdowns with six interceptions. He also showed versatility on the ground, rushing for 1,269 yards and 17 touchdowns. [1]
On February 7, 2018, Nash committed to San Jose State. [2] He was used as a dual-threat quarterback his freshman year, primarily entering the game as a rushing quarterback. He recorded his first collegiate touchdown on a 20-yard rush against Tulsa. He threw his first two career touchdown passes against Air Force. [3]
In 2020, Nash threw for a career high 169 yards and two touchdowns off the bench replacing an injured Nick Starkel in a come from behind victory against San Diego State. [4] Nash and the Spartans captured the 2020 MWC Championship.
In 2021, Nash started six games at quarterback when Starkel went down with an injury. He threw for a career-high three touchdowns on 15-18 passing for 193 yards in a victory against New Mexico State. [5] On the season, Nash threw for 971 yards and six touchdowns to three interceptions.
In 2022, Nash struggled to find playing time at the quarterback position with transfer Chevan Cordeiro being named the starter. He appeared in five games and caught his first career touchdown reception in the 2022 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
In 2023, he made the full transition to wide receiver where he played and started in all 13 games. In week 1, Nash caught six passes for 89 yards and three touchdowns against USC. He made a diving touchdown catch where he tipped the ball to himself mid-air. The play debuted #2 on the SportsCenter on August 26. [6] He ended the season leading the Spartans with a team high 48 receptions for 728 yards and eight touchdowns. In January, Nash briefly entered the transfer portal, but ultimately decided to rejoin San Jose State. [7]
In week one of the 2024 season, Nash caught a then career high 10 catches for 170 yards and two touchdowns. He also threw his first touchdown pass since the 2021 season in a victory against Sacramento State. On the game, he surpassed 1,000 career receiving yards. [8] Nash had a breakout game with a school record 17 receptions and a career high 225 receiving yards in week three. He also caught three touchdowns in the 31–10 victory over Kennesaw State. [9] [10] The following week against Washington State, Nash had 16 receptions for 152 yards and two touchdowns in a double overtime loss. [11] Nash hauled in a touchdown the first ten games of the season, and eleven of twelve games he played. He had multiple touchdowns in four games on the season. In his final collegiate game against rival Stanford, Nash caught eight passes for 91 yards and two touchdowns. His two touchdowns broke the single season touchdown record at San Jose State. The Spartans also defeated Stanford for the first time since 2006. [12] San Jose State finished the season 7–5, (3–4) in conference play, and was selected to the 2024 Hawaii Bowl, on December 18th, 2024. Nash would later go on to opt out of the Hawaii bowl to preserve his health for the 2025 NFL draft. [13] Nash won the NCAA receiving triple crown in the regular season, racking up 104 receptions, 1,382 receiving yards, and 16 receiving touchdowns. [14] Nash earned Unanimous All-American, and First-Team All-Mountain-West honors for his one of a kind season. Nash controversially lost the 2024 Fred Biletnikoff Award to Colorado's Travis Hunter despite being the NCAA receiving triple crown winner. [15]
| Leads Division I FBS | |
| Bold | Career best |
| San Jose State Spartans | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | Receiving | |||||||||||||||||
| GP | GS | Record [a] | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Y/A | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | ||||
| 2019 | San Jose State | 6 | 0 | — | 12 | 17 | 70.6 | 133 | 7.8 | 2 | 0 | 175.1 | 40 | 255 | 6.4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4.0 | 0 | ||
| 2020 | San Jose State | 8 | 1 | — | 20 | 34 | 58.8 | 213 | 6.3 | 2 | 2 | 119.1 | 40 | 204 | 5.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | ||
| 2021 | San Jose State | 11 | 6 | 3–3 | 74 | 138 | 53.6 | 971 | 7.0 | 6 | 3 | 122.7 | 68 | 385 | 5.7 | 1 | 4 | 36 | 9.0 | 0 | ||
| 2022 | San Jose State | 5 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 3 | 23 | 7.7 | 0 | 6 | 62 | 10.3 | 1 | ||
| 2023 | San Jose State | 13 | 13 | — | 0 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 48 | 728 | 14.9 | 8 | ||
| 2024 | San Jose State | 12 | 12 | — | 2 | 2 | 100.0 | 42 | 21.0 | 2 | 0 | 606.4 | 1 | -9 | -9.0 | 0 | 104 | 1,382 | 13.3 | 16 | ||
| Career | 55 | 32 | 3–3 | 108 | 192 | 56.3 | 1,359 | 7.1 | 12 | 5 | 131.1 | 153 | 858 | 5.6 | 5 | 163 | 2,212 | 13.6 | 25 | |||
Frederick Biletnikoff, nicknamed "Scarecrow", is an American former professional football player and coach. He played as a wide receiver for the Oakland Raiders in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons and later was an assistant coach with the team. He retired as an NFL player after the 1978 season then played one more season in the Canadian Football League (CFL) for the Montreal Alouettes in 1980. While he lacked the breakaway speed to be a deep-play threat, Biletnikoff was one of the most sure-handed and consistent receivers of his day with a propensity for making spectacular catches. He was also known for running smooth, precise pass routes. He is a member of both the Pro Football Hall of Fame (1988) and College Football Hall of Fame (1991).
Amani Askari Toomer is an American former professional football player who spent his entire career as a wide receiver and punt returner for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He registered over 1,000 receiving yards each season from 1999 to 2003, was a member of the 2007 Giants team that won Super Bowl XLII, and holds Giants' club records with 9,497 receiving yards, 668 receptions, and 54 receiving touchdowns. He also returned 109 punts for 1,060 yards and three touchdowns. As a rookie in 1996, he led the NFL with an average of 16.6 yards on 18 punt returns.
Brent Michael Jones is an American former professional football player, business executive, businessman, coach, and sports analyst. As a player, he was a tight end for the San Francisco 49ers during his entire 11-year career in the National Football League (NFL) from 1987 to 1997. Jones is listed among the top players in franchise history, and helped revolutionize the concept of the pass-catching tight end.
Sammy White is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for 10 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL).
The UNLV Rebels football program is a college football team that represents the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). The team is a member of the Mountain West Conference, which is a Division I Bowl Subdivision conference of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA). The program, which began on September 14, 1968, plays its home games at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada.
James DeAndre Jones is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the San Jose State Spartans and was selected by the Green Bay Packers in the third round of the 2007 NFL draft. With the Packers, he helped them win Super Bowl XLV over the Pittsburgh Steelers. He also played for the Oakland Raiders. After his playing career, Jones went into sports media and became an NFL Network analyst. In September 2024, he became a co-host on Fox Sports 1's (FS1) sports talk show The Facility.
The 2006 New Mexico Bowl was a postseason American college football bowl game held on December 23, 2006 at University Stadium on the University of New Mexico campus in Albuquerque as part of the 2006–07 NCAA football bowl games. The game, telecast on ESPN, featured the San Jose State Spartans from the WAC and the hometown New Mexico Lobos from the Mountain West Conference. The game was the inaugural New Mexico Bowl and the first bowl game held in the state.
The 2007 Kansas State Wildcats football team represented Kansas State University in the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team's head football coach was Ron Prince. The Wildcats played their home games in Bill Snyder Family Stadium. 2007 saw the Wildcats finish with a record of 5–7, and a 3–5 record in Big 12 Conference play.
Keith Nichol is a former wide receiver and quarterback. He played college football for the University of Oklahoma and Michigan State University.
Amari Cooper is an American professional football wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide, winning the Biletnikoff Award as the nation's top receiver and earning unanimous All-American honors in 2014. Widely considered the top wide receiver prospect of the 2015 NFL draft, Cooper was selected with the fourth overall pick by the Oakland Raiders.
Noel Keith Grigsby Jr. is an American football wide receiver. Grigsby played college football for the San Jose State Spartans. He set school records for career receptions and career receiving yards.
Davante Lavell Adams is an American professional football wide receiver for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). Born in East Palo Alto, California, Adams attended Palo Alto High School where he played football and basketball. He played two seasons of college football for the Fresno State Bulldogs and was named a second-team All-American in 2013 before being selected in the second round of the 2014 NFL draft by the Green Bay Packers.
Eric Ward is a former American football wide receiver. Ward played at the college level for Texas Tech.
Michael Gallup is an American former professional football wide receiver who played for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Butler Community College before transferring to Colorado State, where he was a consensus All-American in 2017. He was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the third round of the 2018 NFL draft.
Tyshun Raequan "Deebo" Samuel Sr. is an American professional football wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the South Carolina Gamecocks and was selected by the 49ers in the second round of the 2019 NFL draft. In 2021, he was selected to the Pro Bowl and received first-team All-Pro honors.
Cedarian DeLeon "CeeDee" Lamb is an American professional football wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Oklahoma Sooners where he was a consensus All-American in 2019, and was selected by the Cowboys in the first round of the 2020 NFL draft.
Josh Oliver is an American professional football tight end for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the San Jose State Spartans.
Chevan Cordeiro is an American professional football quarterback for the St. Louis Battlehawks of the United Football League (UFL). He played college football for the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and at San Jose State Spartans.
Nicholas Starkel is an American former college football quarterback who played at Texas A&M University, the University of Arkansas, and San Jose State University.
The 2022 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 20, 2022, at Albertsons Stadium in Boise, Idaho. The 26th annual Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, the game featured the Eastern Michigan Eagles from the Mid-American Conference and the San Jose State Spartans from the Mountain West Conference. The game began at 1:33 p.m. MST and aired on ESPN. It was one of the 2022–23 bowl games concluding the 2022 FBS football season.