Former Aggie, Blue Devil is eyeing NFL Draft

By Bruce Gallaudet Enterprise correspondent

Local football fans need no introduction to Nick Amoah.

From his days as a Davis Junior Blue Devil to a brilliant run at Davis High — and on to an allconference UC Davis Aggies career — offensive lineman Amoah has grown up on hometown gridirons in successful football programs.

And because of his 6-foot-3, 308-pound frame — not to mention his stellar work in the classroom — Amoah may not be finished protecting quarterbacks and grading roads for running backs.

With the NFL Draft ahead on Thursday, Amoah has caught the eye of representatives from Green Bay, Chicago, Philadelphia and Buffalo. Some mock draft services have Amoah going to Tampa Bay as high as the fourth round.

The buzz all began when Amoah emerged as an All-Big Sky firstteamer from UC Davis in 2021. He upped the ante last year when he was named the Phil Steele

Conference Lineman of the Year.

In anticipation of possibly collecting an NFL paycheck for his toil, Amoah has been working out at center, then excelled when the Aggies conducted an especially enthusiastic Pro Day on March 10.

“Nick has been getting a lot of contacts and messages from the NFL since then,” UCD offensive coordinator Mike Cody told The Enterprise, adding: “And what separates him is who Nick is as a person.

“Nick is a salt-of-theearth individual who understands how much hard work, how much dedication — all those cliché statements — it takes to be a great football player.

“For that next level, it’s not just who you are as a player … it’s who you are as a person, a teammate, how you are as a competitor.”

While Cody believes his former left tackle has the hops for the NFL, “Nick stands out for all those intangible things that are so hard to find. … It’s really tough to find a special guy like Nick.”

Although Amoah didn’t attend the NFL combine, his UC Davis Pro Day performance provided scouts with some eye-popping numbers.

Completing the 40-yard sprint in 5.1 seconds, Amoah also bench-pressed 225 pounds 26 times. Both figures would have been top 10 among offensive linemen at the combine.

His 30-inch vertical reach and 8-foot-7 standing broad jump weren’t chopped liver, either.

“I thought Pro Day went pretty well,” Amoah remembers. “Some of those numbers were pretty good.”

They were “good enough” to ratchet up the number of calls he’s been receiving.

The aerospace science major graduated in December and is encouraged by the recent interest. But stepping back, looking at the franchises interested — Eagles, Bills, Bears and the Frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field — how does this California guy feel about snow and sleet?

“I would be fine,” the 2017 DHS graduate figures. “I guess it would be like going to Lake Tahoe for a few months.”

Amoah says he’s game for whatever comes next.

On the field, he “learned how to use proper technique, more than anything. I always had the athleticism to do it, but the proper technique took a decent while for me to develop.

“But once I learned how to do that properly … the game slowed down a lot,” Amoah said. “I knew what I needed to do to get where I needed to go versus relying on just athleticism or speed.” Off the field?

“I’ve learned a lot: just from the basics of how to take care of yourself from where you’re living, your apartment, learning how to balance time between football, school, friends. (How to own) mental breaks — which took me

See DRAFT, Page B6