Prep blitz: Nikita Stover looks to carry on Decatur Heritage's winning tradition

Aug. 18—The countdown clock toward the first game of Nikita Stover's high school coaching career keeps getting louder as it nears Friday at 7 p.m.

That's when Decatur Heritage begins the season with a road game vs. the Section Lions.

"There's so much to be done and so little time," Stover said. "On the other hand, we've practiced so much that we're ready to play a game."

Being a first-year head coach and preparing for the season opener is a lot different than when you are a player. It's not easy.

Playing football looked easy for Stover when he was at Hartselle and the University of Alabama. He had the speed, size and hands to be a threat to score whenever he touched the ball. He was an All-State selection in 2003.

"Growing up football was not my favorite sport," Stover said. "Basketball and boxing were my favorite sports."

Football may have not been his favorite, but it has played a big role in guiding the 37 year old's path in life. When Stover was young, he lived in Decatur's Stonegate public housing.

"Every night there were fights and gunshots," Stover said. "When you don't know any better, you think that's just part of everyday life."

His father later moved Nikita and his older brother Mario to Danville to live with a grandfather, who lived across the street from the school. Mario became a star athlete at Danville.

"When it became time for me to go to high school, Dad moved me to Hartselle to live with my grandmother," Stover said. "I didn't know a soul and wasn't good at making friends."

Stover was good at catching the eye of Hartselle coaches. Mike Smith was the football coach at Hartselle through Stover's junior season. Bob Godsey's first season was Stover's senior season. Johnny Berry was the Hartselle basketball coach.

"Man he could jump through the roof," Berry said. "He was a heck of an athlete."

Stover won a high jump state championship while at Hartselle.

"I really enjoyed playing basketball for Coach Berry," Stover said. "He showed our team how to come together as a brotherhood. That's how I want my football team to be."

Following a visit to Alabama for a football camp when he was a sophomore, Stover received a scholarship offer from then Crimson Tide head coach Dennis Franchione.

That was just the start. Head coaches from Auburn (Tommy Tuberville), Arkansas (Houston Nutt), South Carolina (Lou Holtz), Georgia (Mark Richt) and LSU (Nick Saban) all came to Hartselle to visit the speedy receiver.

"I was never into recruiting. I didn't say much when the coaches visited," Stover said. "I thought about going to Auburn and LSU. I picked Alabama because it was closer to home."

By the time Stover graduated from Hartselle in 2004, Franchione had left Alabama for Texas A&M. Mike Price replaced him, but didn't make it to his first season before being shown the door. Former Alabama quarterback Mike Shula took over in the summer of 2003.

After one year in junior college, Stover played two years for Shula before Alabama made another coaching change with the hire of Nick Saban in January of 2007.

"The first time I met Coach Saban after he came to Alabama, he said so you can talk," Stover said. "He said when he came to visit me at Hartselle, I didn't say anything to him."

Stover quickly found that he and Saban had more in common than just the same initials.

"Saban was all about accountability, and I was for that. So were a lot of the other players," Stover said. "We needed that. Too many people had been getting away with too much."

Others on the team didn't catch on quick enough. Stover said 13-14 were booted off the team, including two starters and one freshman All-American.

Alabama went 7-6 in Saban's first season with notable wins over Arkansas and Tennessee. Stover finished with career totals at Alabama of 28 catches for 424 yards and five touchdowns.

Football after college really wasn't an option for Stover. The NFL didn't call. There were opportunities in the CFL, but Stover wasn't interested. He came home and looked to the future.

"I tried several different things, but what I enjoyed the most was training athletes," Stover said. "I got started doing that and my business grew."

He got into coaching youth football when his son Tra started playing. Tra played at Madison Academy before closing out his career with two seasons at Austin. He's now playing college football at Austin Peay in Clarksville, Tennessee.

When Johnny Jones was hired to coach girls basketball at Decatur Heritage in 2020, he asked Stover to be part of the program while coaching the middle school team. That led to Stover leading the weight training program at Decatur Heritage. Last season he coached the school's middle school football team to a successful season.

When Steve Meek announced he was retiring after leading the football program for 11 years, Decatur Heritage didn't have to look far for its next head coach.

"When Nikita talks, he has that charisma that makes kids want to follow him," Berry said. "He's just got the 'it' factor to be a successful coach. I know he's going to do a great job for Decatur Heritage."

Stover's first season may be a challenge. The roster has just a handful of seniors. Ten seniors who started both ways graduated from last year's team. That includes five All-State players.

"There's a great foundation of football success at Decatur Heritage," Stover said. "We want to build on that success. How quickly we can do that depends on how quick our young players develop."

— david.elwell@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2395. Twitter @DD_DavidElwell.