Bedford North Lawrence's Louden, Nikirk learn passing game from an all-time great
NEW ORLEANS, La. — Bedford North Lawrence junior quarterback Memphis Louden and senior receiver/running back Dylan Nikirk have been attending some summer school during the 2022 offseason.
No, they weren't required to sit in a classroom at BNL to learn any additional readin', writin', or 'rithmetic. They're plenty solid in those areas.
These young men have been busy building their football knowledge, and they've been learning from the best of sources. Among other camps and skills competitions this summer, the duo attended the Manning Passing Academy at Nicholls State University in New Orleans from June 22-26 where they learned from MPA founder and Manning family patriarch Archie Manning, and also Super Bowl champions Peyton and Eli Manning. Cooper Manning, an All-American receiver before a back disease ended his career, is also an executive director.
It's something of a dream come true for any young passer or receiver to attend the Manning Passing Academy, widely considered the top football camp in the country. Louden and Nikirk received hands-on instruction and critique from top NCAA Division I quarterbacks and receivers.
Manning Academy a football boon
Louden stepped into the starting role at quarterback for the Stars last season and put together a solid debut with 1,288 passing yards and 11 touchdowns with seven interceptions while completing 80 of 157 throws. He also rushed for 197 yards and two scores.
Despite carrying the ball just 25 times, Nikirk was BNL's second-leading rusher with 306 yards (12.2 yards per carry) while adding three TDs. He was the top receiver with 23 catches for 462 yards (20.2 ypc) and three more scores, and Nikirk is also an excellent kickoff and punt return man.
Louden seems somewhat reserved and quiet outwardly, while Nikirk appears a tad more gregarious and outgoing, but what these biddies share in common within them is burning desire to become great football players while raising the fortunes of the BNL program.
So they beat the huge rush and got their names in on time, and the families sacrificed the ample funds necessary to attend this year's camp. The experience did not disappoint.
"It was pretty amazing honestly," Louden said. "To be around all of that coaching, and all of those players who are starting Division I players was really incredible."
Nikirk concurred.
"It was pretty unbelievable," said the senior slotback. "There were a ton of people there, great players all over the place, and we learned a lot, so it was a great time."
BNL boys meet Mannings
Neither Nikirk nor Louden received a lot of individual coaching from Peyton or Eli, but they did meet the most famous family crew in the history of quarterbacking. The procedure at the Manning Passing Academy is that the former professional players and coaches work with big-time college quarterbacks and receivers during the early part of the camp. Then in the second segment, those college players and some coaches become counselors and coach the high school kids. It winds up in the evening with 7-on-7 scrimmages.
Louden and Nikirk did, however, get a few moments with the Mannings.
"We got to meet Peyton, Eli and Archie," Nikirk revealed. "They mostly worked with the college guys, and there were a lot of people there, so they couldn't get around and spend a bunch of time with everybody, but they did make time to meet us and introduce themselves to us. It was great. Peyton is a good dude."
Louden agreed.
"He was really cool," Louden said of Peyton. "He was more of a college coach during the camp, but he came around and met us and talked for a little while. It was neat and he was really nice."
Lessons learned from drills
Louden's primary counselor was Tyler Shough, who played three seasons at Oregon (starting the last two and hit of 3,262 yards and 29 TDs and only 12 interceptions combined) before transferring to Texas Tech where he was named the starter out of preseason camp in 2021. He started four games and threw for 872 yards and six touchdowns before a broken collar bone ended his season.
Louden feels like his learned some valuable lessons from Shough's advice and tidbits. He said he gained further knowledge simply from observing other great college and high school players on hand.
"Whenever we split into groups, Tyler Shough was my main coach," Louden confirmed. "He was really cool, too. He knows what he's doing and he showed us a lot of good stuff. One of the things he pointed out to me was that I was a little heavy on my front foot, so he told me some things to do about it, and I'm going to work on that to improve my release point.
"Then we had so many drills we did and every station we went to there was something really important to learn and really good coaches there, so I think I got a lot of out it. And it was awesome to see the other great players there that I could learn from just by watching and seeing what they do well."
Nikirk's individual instruction was more traditional from actual college coaches.
"The drills were really good and I learned a lot," he said. "It was hot, really hot, and we worked hard at it with drill after drill, but it was good. We obviously worked a lot on route running, how to cut properly. They emphasized a lot about the top of routes and how to break down and get out of them the right way."
Each night's session would culminate with the 7-on-7 scrimmages, and Nikirk and Louden were on the same squad.
"Those went pretty well," Louden said. "Dylan and I didn't get to work together much in the drills because we broke into separate quarterback and receiver groups, but we connected quite a few times when we came back together for the 7-on-7's. I had to look for other receivers, too, but we hooked up several times, too."
Bringing it back to BNL
The BNL boys brought the knowledge back to BNL and have already used it for business purposes. The Stars have competed in three 11-on-11 scrimmages (July 13 against Indian Creek; July 15 at Charlestown; and July 19 at Owen Valley) and they will complete the competitive portion of the offseason on Saturday at the Brownstown 7 on 7 and Hogg Challenge.
These "touch" football scrimmages are always learning, probing events where coaches try to get a look at as many players as possible while gleaning what areas need the most attention and improvement. So there were hits and misses, but Louden feels they were productive.
"I think they went pretty well," he said. "You can tell there's a good attitude with the team and everything is going really fluid. We played well against Indian Creek and clearly won that one. Then one at Charlestown had Jeffersonville and Salem also there.
"We were missing several more players at that one, so we got off to a slow start against Charlestown, but you could see the other guys picking it up as they got more reps. Once everybody started working better together we played a lot better against Jeffersonville and Salem."
BNL means business in 2022
Louden and Nikirk are determined to be strong leaders this season as the Stars seek to improve on last year's 4-6 record. The first official day of practice for 2022 is Monday, Aug. 1, and the season opener is Friday, Aug. 19 at home against Martinsville.
"Last year was pretty stressful for me making my first varsity starting season," Louden acknowledged. "This year I feel like I'm more confident and have matured, and I just want to help this team play well. My attitude is we want to win, and that's just what it's about for us.
"It feels so much better to win, and I'm going to do all I can to make that happen. I think everybody else on the team feels the same way."
Nikirk is ready to provide senior guidance.
"Me and Memphis are for sure out to win this season and we've been getting that message out there," he said. "We've taking a lot of intensity into the offseason workouts and we're determined to keep it up. There's a good feeling on this team right now.
"I'm a senior and I'm going to get them motivated, try to help the younger guys if they don't know something or they're struggling, and just try to lead the way.
"We want to be good and that's all it's about. All I want to do is win, however we can get it done."
Contact Times-Mail Sports Writer Jeff Bartlett at jeffb@tmnews.com, or on Twitter @jeffbtmnews.
This article originally appeared on The Times-Mail: Bedford NL stars Louden, Nikirk head south to learn passing lessons
