Like many freshmen student athletes, Nickolette Dunbar, a shot putter on the LSU track and field team, is trying to make a name for herself on the field.
However, her name already carries weight as a Tiger. Nickolette is the daughter of former LSU football standout Karl Dunbar.
Karl was a three-year starter at defensive end and recorded 11 career sacks in 38 career games for the Tigers from 1986-89.
Karl has since moved into coaching after a playing career in the NFL with the New Orleans Saints and Arizona Cardinals. Dunbar is currently the defensive line coach at the University of Alabama.
“I cheer him on,” Nickolette said of her father. “I want his part of the team to do well.”
Nickolette said she believes her father’s coaching career is one of the things that has made her so successful.
“I think having me move around as a kid helped a lot with getting to know people,” Nickolette said. “It is an easier transition now.”
Nickolette’s decision to come to LSU was her own, and she was never pushed to attend a certain school.
“My parents helped me pick the places I would visit,” Nickolette said. “My mom came with me, since my dad wasn’t able to. They weren’t pushing for any schools. My dad told me I could go wherever I wanted to, that it was up to me.”
Nickolette considered going to school at Penn State, Oregon or Georgia, but ultimately decided on LSU.
For Nickolette, LSU “felt like home.”
“When I took my visit here this was the place I felt I fit in the most,” Nickolette said. “I really liked the people. I got along with Coach Derek Yush very well, and I thought he could take me to the next level where I want to be at.”
Yush, who has been an assistant coach at LSU since 2007, recruited Nickolette and followed her throughout her high school career.
“When you evaluate someone like her, you see there is a lot of raw talent there,” Yush said. “But she had really great coaching along the way. She was a sophomore and junior when we first started watching her … Raw talent wise, speed, and power wise she was untapped.”
Yush made it clear that Nickolette, while being one of the most physically talented throwers he has coached, needed to fine-tune her technique.
“I don’t think she was a real technical thrower in high school,” Yush said, “She got away with a lot of things that she can’t do if she wants to be at that next level. But she is doing a great job of doing those new things, and now she is getting to a point where she is more comfortable doing those things.”
Her debut at Vanderbilt’s Commodore Invitational resulted in Dunbar’s name being placed in the LSU record books.
Nickolette’s final throw of the evening measured at 51 feet, 4 ¼ inches which ranks seventh all-time for a female LSU shot putter.
“I just wanted to go out there and compete because it was my first time competing in college,” Nickolette said. “I was really nervous, but excited about the outcome.”
The following week at Auburn’s Indoor Invitational, Dunbar threw for a new personal-best mark of 52 feet, 6 1/2 inches.
Yush took notice of this performance, and has high expectations for Nickolette.
Tori Bliss, the most decorated shot putter in LSU history, is more than familiar with Dunbar. The 2015 graduate is Nickolette’s training partner.
“It’s a great honor to have my name etched in the LSU track and field history books,” Bliss said. “It will be a little bit sad to see that go down, but to have someone like Nickolette, I see her putting in the work every day, and if she does break, I know she deserves it.”
Nickolette’s career is just beginning. Yush hopes to see her become an All-American and earn a top two or three spot in an Southeastern Conference meet.
“As a freshman, I would really like her to get to the NCAA meet,” Yush said. “Be an All-American, and be top two or three at the SEC meet. For her sophomore, junior and senior years, we have to be thinking about National Champion and more than a one-time SEC Champion.”