The Citadel backup quarterback had 'long journey' to get to the Lowcountry

The Citadel quarterback Nick Billoups (8) hands off during the Bulldogs recent scrimmage at Johnson Hagood Stadium. Al Samuels/Special to The Post and Courier The Citadel football coach Maurice Drayton doesn’t consider himself a salesman when he’s on the recruiting trail. Drayton, who attended the downtown military school in the mid-1990s, is more of a truth teller when talking with potential recruits and their families. “I don’t sugarcoat anything about The Citadel when it comes to recruiting,” Drayton said. “I want a recruit and his family to know everything about the school, the good and the bad, so they can make the right decision for them.” In his nearly two decades as a college recruiter, Drayton has never faced the headwinds he experienced this past winter when the Bulldogs coaching staff went looking for a backup quarterback. With starting quarterback Quentin Hayes returning for a second season with the Bulldogs this fall and the departure of redshirt freshman Cobey Thompkins to the transfer portal, Drayton scoured the country for another signal caller who had at least some college experience. “It was the hardest recruiting process I’ve ever been through,” Drayton said. “Basically, you are telling this human being, who just wants to get on the field and play football, that we’ve got a starting quarterback and you are going to be the backup. “I mean if you are a competitor, who wants to go into a situation like that when they know they are going not going to start.” Enter the well-travelled Nick Billoups. The Citadel quarterback Nick Billoups has played at Utah, BYU and UCLA during his collegiate career. ‘A long journey’ “It’s been a long journey for me,” said Billoups, who enters his seventh season playing college football. “I came here to compete for playing time and to push Quentin. I want to come here and be an ally to him and help the entire team get better. “I knew the situation before I got here. I came here with my eyes wide open. Of course, I want to play, to get on the field, but I also know that I want to be a good teammate, and that means supporting Quentin and the coaching staff in any way possible.” Billoups, who is from Sam Clemente, Calif., started his collegiate career as a freshman walk-on at Utah in 2020. He transferred to nearby Brigham Young the following year, where he spent three seasons and earned an undergraduate degree but never saw the field. In 2024, Billoups returned to Southern California for a season at UCLA, but again failed to take a single snap during a regular season game. “I learned a ton about football at all those schools,” Billoups said. “I had a great experience." But the 6-1, 200-pound graduate student desperately wanted to get on the field to show what he could do. Billoups transferred for a fourth time to Lane College, a tiny private Division II HBCU program in Tennessee. He finally was able to get on the field with the Dragons, playing in 10 games and leading the team with 343 rushing yards and two touchdowns while completing 81 of 165 passes for 1,035 yards and seven TDs. “I was able to get some film, and I knew I wanted to go somewhere and play at the Division I level,” Billoups said. The Citadel quarterback Nick Billoups rushed for 343 yards and two TDs, while completing 81 of 165 passes for 1,035 yards and 7 TDs at Lane College in 2025. ‘A no-brainer’ He entered the transfer portal for a fourth time. Bulldogs quarterback coach Jackson Eskierka and offensive coordinator Lamar Owens stumbled across Billoups’ online highlights and reached out to gauge his interest in coming to the Lowcountry. “If there was a quarterback in the transfer portal that had playing experience, we reached out,” Drayton said. “We left no stone unturned.” Billoups didn’t know a lot about The Citadel, but the more research he did, the better he felt about coming to Charleston. “I was excited to get back to the D-1 level,” Billoups said. “The more I did my due diligence, the more I realized this was the place for me. It reminds me a lot of BYU. Both schools have honor codes, and people that want to live the right way. “That’s really important to me. I want my teammates to be playing for the right reasons, and these guys do. Every single guy on this team is playing for the right reasons. This was no-brainer for me. I love this place, and I’ve only been here a couple of months.” One of the first things Billoups did when he got to town was reach out to Hayes. The two spent time together on his recruiting visit and have become fast friends. “Q is a great guy, a great player,” Billoups said. “He made me feel welcome. This place has felt like home to me.” In just a few short weeks, Billoups has already shown his teammates and the coaching staff that he can produce on the field when called upon. During the Bulldogs first preseason, Billoups led the offense on two scoring drives, throwing a 53-yard TD pass on the Bulldogs' third possession. “Nick has been a great teammate since the moment he stepped on campus,” Owens said. “He’s a very twitchy player that can run and throw. He’s smart, he is tough, and he’s leader, and that is what we want in any quarterback. “He’s got a live arm — you saw that on the long touchdown pass — and he can make guys miss in the open field.” This will be Billoups’ fifth offense since entering the collegiate ranks. “To me, this offense is a lot like BYU’s offense,” he said. “A lot of different formations, a lot of different looks. You have to be able to run and throw in this offense. I love it. I think it fits me.” Barring any injuries, Hayes, who was named to the Southern Conference’s preseason first team last month, will take the first snap in the season opener against Wofford on Aug. 29. “Quentin is our starting quarterback,” Drayton said. “Quentin has to prove that he can’t play, while Nick has to prove he can play. That’s not easy for any competitor to deal with because everyone wants to be the man, but Nick has been a great teammate from the beginning.”