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Daniken is a hit for SOU MT file photo Southern Oregon's Nick Daniken (19) is a stalwart on defense and on special teams, where he is one of the top kick returners in the NAIA. Daniken has returned both a punt and a kickoff for scores. Whether it's from his safety position or returning kicks, the former Crater High standout is a playmaker for the seventh-ranked Raiders By KRIS HENRY Mail Tribune ASHLAND - Nick Daniken can't quite put his finger on it. Ever since he first donned a Raider jersey in 1999, the former Crater High star has been a playmaker for Southern Oregon. He's just not sure why. "It's just about being in the right place at the right time I guess," says the 5-foot-11, 205-pound junior. When pressed further, Daniken opts to do anything but look in the mirror. "It's a combination of the coaches doing a great job of putting together a great scheme and the other 10 guys out there doing their thing," he says. "I just try to help out and do my job." To Daniken, it's the combination of Mike Seedborg and Toby Walker at cornerback. It's playing alongside Erube Maga�a, James Powers, Kodiak Malmstrom, et al. In Daniken's eyes, without them there would be no plays for him to make on defense - and there have been plenty in a season that has the converted free safety leading the Raiders in tackles (67), tied for the team lead in interceptions (3) and second in pass breakups (8). "He's just an all-around athlete on our team and one of our leaders," Malmstrom says of Daniken. "He's a guy who brings a certain spark and attitude to this team." That spark includes an undeniable love of football. "His passion for the game is phenomenal," says SOU coach Jeff Olson. "He puts a lot of energy into making sure he not only knows what he's doing, but what the entire back seven is doing. He's an instinctive player as well. He's just a kid who's always around the football." Even if he weren't playing collegiately, you get the feeling the 22-year-old would find a game somewhere, somehow. "There's nothing on this earth I'd rather do than play football, on any given day," he says. "Go to the park, in the street, in the mud, it doesn't matter." If you sign up for football with Daniken, however, expect to get hit. Serving the past two years as a linebacker at SOU only fueled his desire for contact. So much so that even Daniken's teammates aren't safe. "We've got to watch our backs because he may light us up," jokes Malmstrom. True to that form, Daniken has a tendency to inch up from where a free safety normally is positioned prior to the snap. Instead of standing 8 to 12 yards from the line of scrimmage, he trims that number in half. "I want to hit somebody on every play," Daniken admits. "I just like the physical contact of the game. It's like manhood out there. You want to succeed more than they succeed." That attitude spills over to his other full-time job with the Raiders as punt returner. "Even after we shut someone down on defense, we don't have the mentality that we're finished yet," he says. "We don't want to just shut you down, we want to demoralize you. We want to bury you so far underground you can't see daylight." It's simply an attitude that doesn't want the Raider offense to take the field. Instead, the special teams unit - comprised of mostly defenders - wants to take care of the scoring. "Everybody truly believes that on any given play we can break one," says Daniken, who has a punt and kick return for a TD this season. "Punt returns, kick returns, it doesn't matter. Everybody totally sells out to make that happen." Nobody quite sells out like Daniken, who ranks fifth in the nation with a 17.9 average in his first season as a punt returner. He took over the kickoff duties last year and finished fourth in the nation with a 31.3 average, and would be at that same level this year were he not one kickoff return shy of being eligible for those rankings. If eligible, his current average of 31.8 would put him third in the nation. "His will is incredible," says Olson. "He's very, very determined to get every inch out of every play. It's fun to watch him." To hear Daniken describe returning punts, it's fun to be him in those moments. "Coach (Craig) Young put it a good way," he says. "It's a maze out there. The end zone's the cheese and you're like a rat in the maze. It's just about going and getting the cheese and not letting anything stop you." On most occasions, it takes three or four tacklers or the sideline to halt Daniken's progress. "Until I'm down, it's not over," he says. "As a person running the ball, you're taught to never give up and keep driving. You never know when something's going to happen, someone's going to not wrap up or receive the blow instead of delivering the blow." And just when you think you've found a way to avoid Daniken's playmaking prowess by kicking the ball away from him, he finds yet another way to make his mark. "Even if I don't catch it, I'm still grinning because I know I'm going to knock somebody," he says with a devilish grin. Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.