‘He’s a winner’: Hurricanes QB commit Luke Nickel steps up as Milton beats American Heritage
While Luke Nickel had his share of big passes in Milton’s 37-28 win over Plantation American Heritage on Friday night, one of the plays in the victory that got him the most excited came when he was on the receiving end of a big pass.
It was late in the second quarter and the Eagles were facing third and 10 from the 50 yard line. Nickel handed the ball to receiver Ethan Barbour and made his way down the left sideline. Barbour then lofted a pass to Nickel, who caught it and ran down the sideline for a 26-yard gain and a fresh set of downs. Four plays later, Milton was in the end zone and took a 20-16 lead with 29 seconds remaining in the first half.
The Eagles never trailed after that.
“I knew it was going to work,” Nickel said of the trick play. “Just went out there and used my receiver skills.”
As for the name of the trick play, Nickel said it’s called “The U.”
Why?
“Because I’m going to the U,” the quarterback replied.
Nickel, a four-star recruit rated as the No. 20 quarterback in the Class of 2025 by the 247Sports composite ranking, has been committed to the Miami Hurricanes for more than a year now. Friday was his second time playing a high school game in South Florida as part of the Broward County High School National Football Showcase.
Against American Heritage, Nickel completed 17 of 25 passes for 234 yards and two touchdowns in addition to hauling in the 26-yard catch.
He sealed the game with a 72-yard catch-and-run touchdown pass to Barbour late in the fourth quarter.
And he remained poised throughout the contest despite dealing with an injured thumb on his throwing hand after catching that pass on the trick play.
“If he wasn’t our starting quarterback, he’d be our starting [middle] linebacker. I mean, he is just that tough,” Milton coach Ben Reaves said. “He’s that blue collar. He had a little little thumb tweak, but it was never a question of, ‘Was he going to come out?’ or ‘Was he going to finish the game?’ Luke was going to continue to be Luke and push through whatever pain or injury he had. And that’s just one of the things that makes him so special.”
Nickel, through a smile, said postgame he was feeling pain in the thumb but that “the adrenaline’s definitely there,” which helped him get through the rest of the game.
“I’m going to go do anything for my teammates and really just leave it out there on the field,” Nickel said. “That’s my mentality.”
Last year, Nickel completed 66.1 percent of his passes for 3,914 yards and 39 touchdowns against five interceptions to lead Milton to a Class 7A state championship — the highest classification in Georgia.
He already has Milton, ranked as the top team in Georgia and No. 6 team in the country by MaxPreps, off to a 2-0 start.
“We’ve put so much on him this year,” Reaves said. “He’s truly running a complete offense with a lot of checks. He has a good amount of power out there to get us into some good plays based on certain looks. That just shows his maturity and just overall football IQ and knowledge. The way he’s throwing the ball right now — his timing and his feet have just improved so much. His confidence is there. He’s clicking on all cylinders right now.”
Nickel said his relationship with the Hurricanes is “super strong” right now, just like it has been since he originally committed on Aug. 11, 2023.
As for what the Hurricanes will be getting from Nickel?
“A winner,” Reaves said. “Not just a good quarterback — there’s a lot of good quarterbacks out there. He’s a winner, and you want winners on your team. You want guys that know how to go out score more than the other team. They’re going to do whatever it takes to win, and that’s what you’re getting with him.”
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