Daily Short #177, May 14th, 2018: PLAYER AUDIT - Chris Nelson
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Player Audit
Player Name: Chris Nelson
From Texas Athletics (2018 - Senior)
A fifth-year defensive lineman who has played in 31 games with 15 career starts … named Academic All-Big 12 First Team in 2017 ... named preseason All-Big 12 by Athlon Sports in 2017 ... named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week (Sept. 6, 2016) ... an all-state performer in high school ... a member of the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll (spring 2017).
As a recruit
Chris Nelson was part of Charlie Strong's first recruiting class at Texas, the 2014 "transition class" that actually included some players who would continue on to be key contributors for the Horns in the forms of D'Onta (and to a much lesser degree, Armanti) Foreman, Jerrod Heard, Poona Ford, John Bonney and Andrew Beck among numerous others who have served/did serve as decent depth and/or role players. Nelson, a Charlie Strong-flip from Strong's abandoned class at Louisville, was one of the less highly touted players in the class (remember how Derrick Roberson was the 'can't miss' crown jewel on the defensive side of the ball that year?), but there were certainly aspects of his game to like and project forward as possibly formidable:
(from my initial scouting report on Nelson - January 11th, 2014):
- Big, hulking body and good lower base that should develop stoutly for anchoring.
- Unusually substantial though hamstrings and quads and sort of skinny through the calves and ankles.
- Nelson's college strength and conditioning staff will need to make sure to work hard on continuing to develop his core strength.
- It is worth noting that Nelson got a bunch of run through the early part of his high school career at inside linebacker and fullback. Evaluators are reminded of this by his odd jersey number 24. He's athletic and knows how to use his hands to maintain leverage and generally control the point of attack when bull rushing or one-gapping. Nelson gets a huge initial surge and a great push from the nose-guard position and one-shade technique on the center's outside eye.
The .gif above came on my second play of Nelson's film review vs. St. Petersburg Admiral Farragut, and set the tone for the type of disruption that would be witnessed frequently through the evaluation. He's a perfect fit in what I have evaluated thus far of the 2013 Bedford/Strong defense as the anchor technique.
- Another small thing I noticed about Nelson was discipline in his stance.
- Upfield burst is helped by Nelson's long arms which he uses to disengage, find his way, and generally break free toward's the play's action. Nelson's first step does not appear to carry with it the same speed and suddenness as the total sum of parts contributing to his great early surge. Evaluators will notice his feet are light through contested battles. Sometimes too light, as Nelson's best asset - his "pop" into assignments which puts the offense on the defensive - sometimes translates to his upper body leading his feet astray.
Arrival in Austin
- I don't have a single note in my reporting that summer that mentions Nelson, which is probably a bit telling about how his first year in Austin would go.
As a Longhorn:
2014 (Redshirt) - Redshirted. Tore his labrum early on during his redshirt season. It required surgery and held him out through the year (and all the way through spring football as a sophomore as well).
2015 (RS Freshman) - Nelson came into the season reportedly aiming to "go in and be the starter" per my reporting at the time, but there was no way that was ever going to happen with Desmond Jackson, Hassan Ridgeway and Paul Boyette still in town. The hope, however, at the time, was that Poona Ford and Chris Nelson would continue to build solid depth at a position that was set to become woefully thin coming into the 2016 season (an issue Strong would later attempt to address in overwhelming fashion during the 2016 recruiting cycle). Nelson would go on to play 122 snaps as a redshirt freshman which was good for fifth on the team out of only five true options. (Jackson, Ridgeway, Boyette, Ford and Nelson. Jake McMillon was playing DT at the time but logged only 18 total snaps on defense). Nelson saw his biggest two outings snap-percentage wise in the final two games of the season versus Tech (29 snaps) and Baylor (33 snaps) in which Desmond Jackson and Hassan Ridgeway missed games respectively. Nelson didn't light the world on fire, but through those two games was able to rack up -- on top of a few tackles -- 1 QB pressure and 3 run-stuffs. He was largely quiet in his games prior to that, though, and finished the season with a very pedestrian 11.09 snaps per production caused, which was good for last-place among qualifying interior DLs.
2016 (Sophomore) - Started out the season with an epic monster of a game for an interior defensive lineman in Strong and Bedford's scheme vs. Notre Dame: 3 solo tackles, 1 assisted tackle, 1 sack, 1/2 of a TFL and 3 run-stuffs on 42 total snaps. Nelson played 430 snaps on the season and finished in sixth-place overall out of defensive players in market-share of productivity at 5.64%, only behind Breckyn Hager (8.22%), Malik Jefferson (6.86%), Malcolm Roach (6.71%), Poona Ford (6.61%) and Jason Hall (6.06%). As for snaps per production caused, Nelson's 7.41 was clearly an improvement from 2015 and was good for fourth overall on the team among qualifiers. He led the team with 16 run-stuffs and was tied for the lead in TFL with 8.5. While Nelson did not play out a 2016 season that sustained the level of fireworks generated in Week 1 versus Notre Dame, it's hard to say that he didn't come into the 2017 season looking poised for a possible breakout as a fourth-year junior.
2017 (Junior) - Regressed in his junior season as Poona Ford took over as a relative force of nature and Defensive Lineman of the Year in the Big 12 in Todd Orlando's defense. Furthermore, he lost snaps as Orlando shifted the D to a slimmer, faster and sleeker group at all levels. Getting players like Ta'Quon Graham, Breckyn Hager, Charles Omenihu and at times even Naashon Hughes involved as down linemen (and given the fact there were less down linemen in a 3-4 to begin with) Nelson only played 320 snaps in 2017 and saw his production fall to 11th-most productive on the unit from a market-share perspective. It wasn't just the drop in volume that accounted for the lack of production, either. Nelson's snaps per production caused number sank back to near-identical-to-2015 levels at 11.04. Nelson also registered 3 missed tackles on the campaign which was actually three times the number he'd generated through his first two seasons. Following the 2017 season, Nelson came into 2018 spring practice with an injured elbow which limited him during practices to light-contact work. Nelson did not take part in live scrimmages and missed the Orange-White spring game, just before which undergoing arthroscopic surgery on the elbow. Per UT, he's expected to be a 100% go for summer workouts.
AUDIT FINDINGS
Accomplishments:
Has been at least a serviceable producer during his time at Texas after coming on board as somewhat of an afterthought in a transition class at Texas and has been a solid producer in the classroom as well, judging by his spring 2017 inclusion on the Big 12 commissioner's honor roll. Finally, not many returning players on the 2018 team can claim to have been, at any point, Top 5-ish producers on the defense when looking at an average of market share % and snaps per production caused in any previous season.
Concerns and areas where improvement is needed:
Poona Ford won Defensive Lineman of the Year, as voted by the Big 12 coaches, in 2017. For that reason, let's leave out the narrative that Orlando's system is not conducive to production from the interior defensive line as they are asked to two-gap at times and not always penetrate upfield and attack. Ed Oliver, the likely first pick in next year's draft, was recruited by Herman and Orlando to play nose tackle for God's sake. You can produce (and do so at a high level) from the interior line positions in a Todd Orlando defense. Chris Nelson did not in 2017 despite being on what appeared to be an upward trajectory. Furthermore, we've seen a regression in play from one year to the next which is never anything you like to see in any aspect of performance evaluation across most fields in general. Add in the (to this point completely unsubstantiated) transfer rumors that have followed Nelson thorough the 2018 offseason which have been at least to some degree concerning, as has his general ability to stay healthy for prolonged periods through his first four years at Texas.
This player audit filed Monday, May 14th, the year of our Lord 2018, in the county of Travis, state of Texas.
presented by the Dental Offices of Wendy Swantkowski, DDS
The Absolute BEST in family and cosmetic dentistry for the Houston-Memorial Area
Now Accepting New Patients --- 281-293-9140
Support the Short by supporting our sponsor - Give Wendy a call today!
Player Audit
Player Name: Chris Nelson
From Texas Athletics (2018 - Senior)
A fifth-year defensive lineman who has played in 31 games with 15 career starts … named Academic All-Big 12 First Team in 2017 ... named preseason All-Big 12 by Athlon Sports in 2017 ... named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week (Sept. 6, 2016) ... an all-state performer in high school ... a member of the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll (spring 2017).
As a recruit
Chris Nelson was part of Charlie Strong's first recruiting class at Texas, the 2014 "transition class" that actually included some players who would continue on to be key contributors for the Horns in the forms of D'Onta (and to a much lesser degree, Armanti) Foreman, Jerrod Heard, Poona Ford, John Bonney and Andrew Beck among numerous others who have served/did serve as decent depth and/or role players. Nelson, a Charlie Strong-flip from Strong's abandoned class at Louisville, was one of the less highly touted players in the class (remember how Derrick Roberson was the 'can't miss' crown jewel on the defensive side of the ball that year?), but there were certainly aspects of his game to like and project forward as possibly formidable:
(from my initial scouting report on Nelson - January 11th, 2014):
- Big, hulking body and good lower base that should develop stoutly for anchoring.
- Unusually substantial though hamstrings and quads and sort of skinny through the calves and ankles.
- Nelson's college strength and conditioning staff will need to make sure to work hard on continuing to develop his core strength.
- It is worth noting that Nelson got a bunch of run through the early part of his high school career at inside linebacker and fullback. Evaluators are reminded of this by his odd jersey number 24. He's athletic and knows how to use his hands to maintain leverage and generally control the point of attack when bull rushing or one-gapping. Nelson gets a huge initial surge and a great push from the nose-guard position and one-shade technique on the center's outside eye.
The .gif above came on my second play of Nelson's film review vs. St. Petersburg Admiral Farragut, and set the tone for the type of disruption that would be witnessed frequently through the evaluation. He's a perfect fit in what I have evaluated thus far of the 2013 Bedford/Strong defense as the anchor technique.
- Another small thing I noticed about Nelson was discipline in his stance.
- Upfield burst is helped by Nelson's long arms which he uses to disengage, find his way, and generally break free toward's the play's action. Nelson's first step does not appear to carry with it the same speed and suddenness as the total sum of parts contributing to his great early surge. Evaluators will notice his feet are light through contested battles. Sometimes too light, as Nelson's best asset - his "pop" into assignments which puts the offense on the defensive - sometimes translates to his upper body leading his feet astray.
Arrival in Austin
- I don't have a single note in my reporting that summer that mentions Nelson, which is probably a bit telling about how his first year in Austin would go.
As a Longhorn:
2014 (Redshirt) - Redshirted. Tore his labrum early on during his redshirt season. It required surgery and held him out through the year (and all the way through spring football as a sophomore as well).
2015 (RS Freshman) - Nelson came into the season reportedly aiming to "go in and be the starter" per my reporting at the time, but there was no way that was ever going to happen with Desmond Jackson, Hassan Ridgeway and Paul Boyette still in town. The hope, however, at the time, was that Poona Ford and Chris Nelson would continue to build solid depth at a position that was set to become woefully thin coming into the 2016 season (an issue Strong would later attempt to address in overwhelming fashion during the 2016 recruiting cycle). Nelson would go on to play 122 snaps as a redshirt freshman which was good for fifth on the team out of only five true options. (Jackson, Ridgeway, Boyette, Ford and Nelson. Jake McMillon was playing DT at the time but logged only 18 total snaps on defense). Nelson saw his biggest two outings snap-percentage wise in the final two games of the season versus Tech (29 snaps) and Baylor (33 snaps) in which Desmond Jackson and Hassan Ridgeway missed games respectively. Nelson didn't light the world on fire, but through those two games was able to rack up -- on top of a few tackles -- 1 QB pressure and 3 run-stuffs. He was largely quiet in his games prior to that, though, and finished the season with a very pedestrian 11.09 snaps per production caused, which was good for last-place among qualifying interior DLs.
2016 (Sophomore) - Started out the season with an epic monster of a game for an interior defensive lineman in Strong and Bedford's scheme vs. Notre Dame: 3 solo tackles, 1 assisted tackle, 1 sack, 1/2 of a TFL and 3 run-stuffs on 42 total snaps. Nelson played 430 snaps on the season and finished in sixth-place overall out of defensive players in market-share of productivity at 5.64%, only behind Breckyn Hager (8.22%), Malik Jefferson (6.86%), Malcolm Roach (6.71%), Poona Ford (6.61%) and Jason Hall (6.06%). As for snaps per production caused, Nelson's 7.41 was clearly an improvement from 2015 and was good for fourth overall on the team among qualifiers. He led the team with 16 run-stuffs and was tied for the lead in TFL with 8.5. While Nelson did not play out a 2016 season that sustained the level of fireworks generated in Week 1 versus Notre Dame, it's hard to say that he didn't come into the 2017 season looking poised for a possible breakout as a fourth-year junior.
2017 (Junior) - Regressed in his junior season as Poona Ford took over as a relative force of nature and Defensive Lineman of the Year in the Big 12 in Todd Orlando's defense. Furthermore, he lost snaps as Orlando shifted the D to a slimmer, faster and sleeker group at all levels. Getting players like Ta'Quon Graham, Breckyn Hager, Charles Omenihu and at times even Naashon Hughes involved as down linemen (and given the fact there were less down linemen in a 3-4 to begin with) Nelson only played 320 snaps in 2017 and saw his production fall to 11th-most productive on the unit from a market-share perspective. It wasn't just the drop in volume that accounted for the lack of production, either. Nelson's snaps per production caused number sank back to near-identical-to-2015 levels at 11.04. Nelson also registered 3 missed tackles on the campaign which was actually three times the number he'd generated through his first two seasons. Following the 2017 season, Nelson came into 2018 spring practice with an injured elbow which limited him during practices to light-contact work. Nelson did not take part in live scrimmages and missed the Orange-White spring game, just before which undergoing arthroscopic surgery on the elbow. Per UT, he's expected to be a 100% go for summer workouts.
AUDIT FINDINGS
Accomplishments:
Has been at least a serviceable producer during his time at Texas after coming on board as somewhat of an afterthought in a transition class at Texas and has been a solid producer in the classroom as well, judging by his spring 2017 inclusion on the Big 12 commissioner's honor roll. Finally, not many returning players on the 2018 team can claim to have been, at any point, Top 5-ish producers on the defense when looking at an average of market share % and snaps per production caused in any previous season.
Concerns and areas where improvement is needed:
Poona Ford won Defensive Lineman of the Year, as voted by the Big 12 coaches, in 2017. For that reason, let's leave out the narrative that Orlando's system is not conducive to production from the interior defensive line as they are asked to two-gap at times and not always penetrate upfield and attack. Ed Oliver, the likely first pick in next year's draft, was recruited by Herman and Orlando to play nose tackle for God's sake. You can produce (and do so at a high level) from the interior line positions in a Todd Orlando defense. Chris Nelson did not in 2017 despite being on what appeared to be an upward trajectory. Furthermore, we've seen a regression in play from one year to the next which is never anything you like to see in any aspect of performance evaluation across most fields in general. Add in the (to this point completely unsubstantiated) transfer rumors that have followed Nelson thorough the 2018 offseason which have been at least to some degree concerning, as has his general ability to stay healthy for prolonged periods through his first four years at Texas.
This player audit filed Monday, May 14th, the year of our Lord 2018, in the county of Travis, state of Texas.
