By Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

Nick Sites’ senior football season was a lot like a hamburger. It began to heat up on one side, but then flipped to the other side and really started to cook.

Having been a wide receiver, the 6-foot-2, 185-pound Sites was moved to outside linebacker and he enjoyed a remarkable season as he helped the Ironton Fighting Tigers win the Division 5 state championship.

“Wide receiver is something I’ve always done. I didn’t ever care about defense until this year,” said Sites. “I decided I liked defense better after playing it. I enjoyed it a lot.

“It was something I’d never did before, but I was willing to do whatever it took to win a state championship. That was the position that needed to be filled and I was willing to do whatever it took.”

That switch caught the eyes of the University of Pikeville and Sites signed a letter-of-intent with the Bears program on Monday.

Sites finished the season with 74 total tackles — third most on the team — including 26 solo stops. He also had 2 fumble recoveries, 1.5 quarterback sacks and 8 quarterback hurries

On the offensive side, Sites caught 11 passes for 224 yards — a 20.4 yards per catch average — and a touchdown.

“I don’t really pay attention to that,” Sites said of the statistics. “I just wanted to win a state championship and help the team.”

Playing outside linebacker had some similarities with playing in the secondary, but it had very notable differences.

“It’s really different because you have to do a lot of different stuff. You have to defend the pass and worry about the run, so you’re playing (defensive back) and linebacker at the same time,” Sites said.

Sites spoke with several schools but he narrowed his choice down to Mount Union, Heidelberg and Pikeville

“UPike was the best decision for me because I felt God was taking me that way,” said Sites. “Plus, I’ve got some friends down there right now.”

Ironton head coach Trevon Pendleton said Sites had the physical tools to make the flip and it was just a matter of time that saw him begin to excel.

“He’s a long, athletic body that worked really hard in the weight room and got up to 185 pounds and made the transition from playing in the secondary as a safety and corner for us and moved him down close to the box at outside linebacker,” Pendleton said.

“He had some hybrid roles where he could still cover some people and get his nose in the box and make a lot of tackles. I think he really excelled at that. He got a lot of confidence as the year went along and I think that confidence trickled over into his game play. Late in the season he led us in tackles several games and came up and made some really big plays.”

The fact Sites still played some offense at wide receiver wasn’t lost on Pendleton.

“He got a touchdown against Bishop Hartley that put us up, and in the second series against Harvest Prep we were down 7-0 and kind of stalled out and he made a big play, a 45-, 50-yard catch,” said Pendleton.

Although Sites plays baseball, he said football has always been his favorite, partly because of his father.

His father Jon Sites, a key player for the 1999 state runner-up team, died a few years ago, Nick said he was a great influence on him as a player along with his uncle Tyler Kratzenberg who was the quarterback and defensive back for the 2011 regional runners-up and is now an assistant coach at Raceland, Ky.

“My freshman year until now, I always watched his (father’s) games on replay and I wanted to be like him,” said Sites. “I also wanted to be like my uncle, too. I just strived to live up to those expectations.

“Tyler has always been a huge person in my life. He’s helped me mentally and physically. He’s always made sure I had the right places to work out and always made sure I was mentally OK.”

Moving from high school to college hasn’t changed Sites’ agenda which is team oriented.

“My goals at UPike are to go in and work as hard as I can and help the team as much as I can,” said Sites.

“They’re facilities are really nice. They’re talking about building a new facility so that’s going to be really nice. And just the family and brotherhood they have down there. Like the small town vibe they give. It’s a lot like Ironton.”

Sites plans to major in business administration.