THE SKINNY

Height/Weight: 6-foot-6, 310 pounds
Hometown/High School: Pittsburgh, PA (Mt. Lebanon/Lackawanna C.C.)
Ranking: ★★★ (88 — 247Sports)
Notable Offers: West Virginia, NC State, Ole Miss, Maryland

HIGHLIGHTS

THE TALE

Nelson originally hails from Mt. Lebanon High School in Pittsburgh, home to former Nittany Lion Troy Apke as well as your Olympic hero, Kurt Angle. He then headed to northeastern PA to play for Lackawanna College where he impressed in spring ball. After camping for the Nittany Lions back in June, he picked up an offer and Penn State immediately shot to the top of his board after picking up previous offers from Ole Miss, West Virginia and NC State.

OUTLOOK

Nelson’s got everything you want from an offensive lineman in terms of build and physical tools. Not only is he a giant of a human being, but he’s also got good feet and great arm length.

Without a full fall season of junior college football, it can be tough to evaluate him, but like with Lackawanna teammate Tyrece Mills, you trust that Penn State’s familiarity with the program makes the Nittany Lions comfortable with their evaluation, especially after he camped for Phil Trautwein and co.

Though his size would typically point to Nelson playing at tackle in the Big Ten, as he’s done in high school and at the juco level, all signs appear to pointed to the interior in yet another sign that Trautwein would like to add more height and size across his offensive line unit.

Due to the 2020 COVID eligibility rules, Nelson will have four years to play three when he gets on campus at Penn State,