New-look Nichols impresses teammates

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This article was published 21/05/2019 (2303 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Matt Nichols stepped back into the pocket and, after taking a brief second to read the defence, delivered a strike over the middle to receiver Chris Matthews.

On the next play, he connected with Nic Demski near the opposite sideline for another sizable gain. With the clock winding down, Nichols went back to Matthews, who was able to sneak behind a defender before rumbling untouched to the end zone.

It was a sequence of throws that wouldn’t count for much, played out in the final minutes of practice just as Day 2 of training camp for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers wrapped up on Monday. Nichols, the Bombers’ starting quarterback, has looked good — delivering accurate throws and moving with the kind of ease that suggests a roller-coaster 2018 campaign might be behind him.

“He looks good, man. He looks a little leaner and kind of buff a little bit, too, in the chest and arms area,” Bombers left tackle Stanley Bryant, the man in charge of protecting Nichols’ blind side, said.

“You can tell he’s been out there working and he’s ready to take off. He knows that we go as he goes.”

Bryant, along with the rest of his teammates, trusts they are in good hands with Nichols at the controls. Nichols, for his part, feels better than he’s ever felt this early into training camp, something he credits to a change in diet and workout regimen over the off-season.

While listed on the team’s website at 6-2 and 216 pounds, Nichols said he has been fluctuating between 206 and 210 pounds in camp. Though he’s used to a playing weight of around 220 pounds, he is committed to staying around 210 this season. He said he could already feel the advantages of being lighter.

“I can just tell after read-zone plays, when I’m sprinting out of the pocket I can just feel it takes less effort to get up to top speed,” Nichols said. “My acceleration is better and it’s ultimately going to help my game get better and help our team.”

Nichols credits his drop in weight — and subsequent increase in foot speed — to his commitment in watching what he ate over the off-season, which, in some cases, included ridding himself of some of his favourite foods — including burgers and pizza — for long stretches.

With the support of his wife Ali, the two of them took March off from eating dairy or gluten, while also staying away from refined sugar and alcohol. To make sure he stayed accountable, Nichols said they created a poster board to chart their progress. After each successful day of dieting, their daughter, Elliot, would mark the occasion by pinning a Ninja Turtles sticker to the board. Thirty-one days. Thirty-one stickers.

“It felt so good at the end of it and then just continuing to eat better week in and week out. I’ve even been getting some comments from the guys on how I’m moving and stuff this year,” Nichols said.

Nichols has always taken an interest in researching the latest workout trends, tweaking his routine to best fit his needs as a QB. Though he didn’t overhaul his workouts in the same way as his diet, he did focus his time in the gym on exercises that better mimicked what he experienced on the field.

Instead of lifting heavy weights, Nichols worked with resistance bands. He also enjoys interval training, which includes quick exercises for five or six seconds to get the heart rate up, followed by 20 seconds of rest — similar to a play in football.

“As you have more and more wear and tear on your body, to be able to continue to play for a long time — which I plan to do — you have to continue to evolve,” Nichols added. “It just makes sense to train that way.”

There’s no denying Nichols’ success. Since taking over as the team’s No. 1 pivot early into the 2016 season, he has won twice as many games as he’s lost (30-14). With Nichols under centre, Winnipeg has made it to the playoffs in three straight years, earning its first playoff win since 2011 following a victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders in last year’s West semifinal (they eventually lost to Calgary in the West final).

Still, there were notable signs of regression from Nichols last season — one marred by injury and inconsistency — that has once again created a cloud of doubt as to whether he can lead his team to glory. And with 29 years since the city’s last Grey Cup title, patience is running thin.

Criticism is part of playing in a football-fuelled city, and while Nichols went through a lot last season, including a knee injury in training camp that sidelined him for the first three games of the regular season, he has also grown from his experiences.

One of those lessons was how to better handle the outside noise. He has a rule not to go on social media during training camp, which helps him to stay better focused. His greatest takeaway from the 2018 season is to have a stronger start, something he hopes will be the greatest result from the hard work he’s put in the last six months.

“For us, it’s making sure that one or two games just go a little bit differently early in the season, which can put you in a position where you’re hosting a West final,” he said.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

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