Fort Hill's Nick Willison captures Defensive Player of the Year

Dec. 20, 2024
by Alex Rychwalski

CUMBERLAND — No local player disrupted offenses quite like Fort Hill’s Nick Willison did this season, and he did it playing out of position.

Willison (5-foot-11, 195 pounds) projects as a linebacker at the next level, but Fort Hill had a hole on the line, and the senior put the team first.

He blossomed in that role, racking up 102 solo tackles, 40 tackles for loss, six sacks and a Maryland public school-best eight forced fumbles in leading the Sentinels to a record-tying fourth consecutive Class 1A state championship.

Willison now extends another streak after being named Pepsi-Cola Defensive Player of the Year by the area’s head coaches — the fourth consecutive Fort Hill player to capture the honor.

“Settling in at defensive line, it didn’t matter if he was playing over top the center, a 3-technique or a 5-technique, whatever we needed him to play that particular week, he would do it,” Fort Hill head coach Zack Alkire said.

“He would be able to pick up on that week’s scheme faster than anybody on that side of the ball. He executed his role perfectly.”

The area football awards were chosen at a meeting of the area’s head coaches on Monday night.

Three have been revealed so far. Frankfort won the first two, with Kevin Whiteman winning Coach of the Year and Daniel Marley being named the John B. “Jack” Gilmore Memorial Lineman of the Year.

The Morton W. Peskin Sr. Memorial Offensive Player of the Year will be revealed in the weekend edition of the Times-News.

Seven area head coaches attended the All-Area meeting, and Willison bested Northern’s Nick Riley by a vote of six to one. Frankfort’s Jett McCullough was also nominated.

Willison racked up 192 total tackles, the most by a Fort Hill defensive standout since Brayden Poling in 2017.

The senior, who has received five Division 3 offers and attracted Division 2 interest, had at least one tackle for loss in every game. Willison recorded a season-high six against Southern on Sept. 19 and had five against Hollidaysburg on Sept. 27.

While Willison had obvious athletic gifts — his explosiveness off the line and strength to bring ball carriers down — Alkire highlighted his defensive star’s preparation.

“He’s a very cerebral player who spent a lot of time watching film,” the fifth-year coach said. “We preach every day, ‘Watch film, watch film, watch film.’ When you go back and you look at the analytics of how much film guys are watching week to week, he was consistently one of the top kids.

“When you have the physical tools that Nick has, when you have the football IQ that Nick has, and you couple that with the preparation that Nick has, he was able to put himself in a position to make plays.”

Willison was also a tight end on offense, catching two passes — both for touchdowns.

He made a 36-yard scoring grab against Southern, and he had a 26-yard TD reception in a 55-20 rout of Clear Spring in the Class 1A West Region co-finals at Clear Spring on Nov. 14.

“We had conversations last year during the playoffs,” Alkire said. “Nick would come to us and say, ‘Hey coach, I’m willing to play tight end next year.’ And I said, ‘Nick, we don’t have any linemen coming back next year. Maybe guard?’ He said, ‘Whatever, whatever it takes to help the team win.’ From that standpoint, he was the definition of team.”

A Fort Hill player has won or shared Defensive Player of the Year in 12 of the last 13 seasons, not including the 2020 campaign in which Maryland didn’t play a full season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The last three Sentinel winners were Jaylan Atkinson, Carter Hess and TJ Lee.

Fort Hill has won or shared the top defensive honor 24 times since the award was established in 1981.