DURHAM – When tight end Jordan Powell was suspended for the first six games of the University of New Hampshire football season, it left an opening for Nick Derocher. It might be tough for Derocher, a redshirt sophomore from Northwood, to duplicate the season Powell had last year – 46 catches (second on the team) for 461 yards and a spot on the All-CAA First Team – but he doesn’t need to duplicate it. He just needs to be Nick Derocher.
“He’s growing into a role,” UNH Coach Sean McDonnell said. “Everybody knows that we won’t have Jordan Powell for the first five and a half, six games, and the biggest thing for Nick Derocher is just to be himself. And he really improved last spring.”
So, what does it look like when the 6-foot-1, 239-pound Derocher is being himself?
“Physically he’s a very, very explosive, powerful guy, so he’ll block very well and probably be a littler different from our other tight ends that way,” McDonnell said. “The other thing is he’s really improved his route-running ability and he catches the football better than he has, he keeps working on it … he was up here all summer. He ain’t got far to go home, but the great thing with Nick is, he was catching the ball all over the place.”
What McDonnell sees is the same thing Derocher sees when he looks in the mirror.
“I’ve always been a good blocker,” Deroche said. “I’ve been working on my pass routes and pass catching ability big time this year.”
Derocher said he feels like all the work has helped. He feels confident. He may have just one college reception to his name, but he feels ready to help the Wildcats, ranked No. 22 in STATS FCS preseason poll, make a 13th consecutive trip to the FCS playoffs.
“I’ve been getting the nod more in practice, I’ve been running with the ones, I feel good about myself,” Derocher said. “I think we’ve got a great year ahead of us and I hope I can contribute.”
Like McDonnell said, Derocher didn’t have far to go to get from his home in Northwood to the UNH campus. In fact, Derocher traveled farther to go to high school.
He played youth football for the Seacoast Titans until he was in eighth grade, and he was in love with the sport. But since there is no football team at Coe-Brown, Derocher went to the Tilton School.
“I definitely wanted to pursue college football, that’s why I went to Tilton, and then I got more serious with it my junior and senior year,” Derocher said. “I was looking to play in college, not Division I necessarily, but junior and senior year I stated getting some interest from (UNH) and other schools, and I really wanted to pursue that.”
Derocher played tight end, running back, defensive end and linebacker at Tilton and was a three-time All-Evergreen League selection. He was also named to the All-New England Prep School First Team and was named team MVP as a senior.
It was the best of both worlds for Derocher. He was close enough to Northwood that he remained close with his childhood friends. And he was able to prepare himself for college football.
“I lived on my own, so I had been away from my parents, so I got used to that,” Derocher said. “And then also I just feel like athletically, there was such good athletes at that school that it helped me adapt quickly here to the competition.”
Just like the tight end spot, the quarterback position is up in the air at UNH with senior Adam Riese and sophomore Trevor Knight fighting for the job. Derocher caught plenty of passes from both of them this summer, but he’s got a bond with Knight, another New Hampshire product from Nashua South High School.
“Me and Trevor have always had a connection,” Derocher said. “Same grade, we’re friends, good buddies. We always seem to click on the field. He knows when I’m open and I know when he’s looking for me. Works out well.”
What could also work out well for Derocher in terms of playing time is his run-blocking ability. The Wildcats may have some relatively untested quarterbacks, but they have a stable of talented running backs, led by senior Dalton Crossan, an All-CAA Third Team pick last year. And Crossan could spend a lot of time running behind a pair of local blockers lined up shoulder to shoulder – Derocher and left tackle Andrew Lauderdale, a Concord native.
“I think Lauderdale has taken the next step,” McDonnell said. “He’s 291 pounds right now and everything I’ve asked him to do from last January to right now, he’s done and he’s done above and beyond the call of duty. … I think the kid can be an all-conference lineman for us.”
Yes, preseason is the time for unbridled optimism, but McDonnell is a straight shooter and doesn’t throw around compliments like that without meaning it, which makes the following comment all the more interesting.
“That (tight end) position, I think we’ve got a bunch of talent (Derocher, redshirt freshman Justin Malone-Woods, sophomore Matt Torrey). But again, it’s young,” McDonnell said. “Last year at this time, nobody knew if Jordan Powell was going to be any good and the kid had a hell of a season. I got the same kind of feeling about those other three kids. Hopefully it goes that way and I think Derocher is one of them.”
(Tim O’Sullivan can be reached at 269-3341 or at tosullivan@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @timosullivan20.)