4-star CB Terhyon Nichols commits to Kentucky: 'Kentucky checked all of my boxes'

Cincinnati (Ohio) Withrow four-star cornerback Terhyon Nichols wasn’t going to rush to any decisions until took all of his official visits. Once he got those visits out of the way Nichols sat down to mull over his options.

In the end Nichols came to the decision to commit to Kentucky over Michigan and Penn State Sunday night.

“It was pretty tight as I was just trying to find that fit,” Nichols told On3. “I feel like Kentucky just sealed the deal for me. It came down to me jus thinking over it after taking all of my official visits. I went home and thought about the pros, cons and where I can achieve my goals of making it to the NFL and get a degree. Kentucky checked all of my boxes.”

Nichols said that Kentucky flip-flopped between being at the top and middle of the list for weeks before he ultimately sealed them at the top.

It wasn’t until his official visit to Lexington on June 5 that Nichols really began to realize that Kentucky was the place for him over ant other school.

“That visit was very important,” said Nichols, the No. 188 player in the 2024 On300. “I wanted to get down there and be able to talk with the coaches and especially the players. The players are already there so I wanted to talk with them and see what was real.

“My host was keeping it 100% honest with me and it was all matching what Coach Morrow and Coach Collins had been telling me.”

Competing in the SEC for top coaches sold Nichols on the Wildcats

Transparency with the future coaches he’d be playing for was one of the biggest factors in Nichols recruitment. The transparency he got from the Wildcats coaching staff, especially Mark Stoops only helped in their recruitment of him.

It also that Stoops has a rich history of producing NFL-caliber cornerbacks.

“Coach Stoops is very transparent as well so that’s a plus,” said Nichols. “I really like transparency where they keep it 100% real. That really stood out to me and his DB wall is very hefty. I like that he’s a DB guy as a head coach.”

Kentucky being an SEC program also helped lure Nichols away from Big Ten country.

While he grew up watching Big Ten programs like Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State, Nichols is well aware of the type of players the SEC has produced over the last decade-plus.

“It’s NFL-style and future NFL guys every single week,” Nichols said. “It’s not a knock on any other conference because they play really good football as well, but the SEC is NFL guys every single week.”