by Bill Seals
Although he was announced as a member of Iowa State’s 2016 signing class, a Missouri prep didn’t quite make the cut academically and ended up at Iowa Western as a member of the Reivers’ crop of newcomers.
Defensive lineman Jerrion Nelson has gotten on track in Council Bluffs and is still being recruited by Iowa State to eventually join the program in 2018.
“Everything is going well with the staff at Iowa State,” said Nelson. “I talk to Coach (Alex) Golesh almost every day and he checks in on me to make sure my grades are good and all of that. I didn’t get to make it up to any games this fall because we had a lot of games on Saturday, but I’m going to come to some basketball games to get on campus. I want to meet some of the players and hang out with them to see what it’s like up there.
“He’s been saying I would play a big part in the scheme whenever I get up there on the defensive side. He said I’ll help them out a lot on defense. That’s good enough for me. I just want to play and help the team any kind of way I can.”
Coming out of Columbia Battle High School, Nelson at one time had P5 offers from the likes of ISU, Iowa, Purdue and Syracuse prior to joining the Cyclones as a sign-and-place in February.
The 6-foot-2, 265-pound Nelson recorded 45 tackles, 8.5 tackles-for-loss and four sacks as a freshman with the Reivers. He also made the change from being an end in high school to playing inside in 2016.
“They moved me to defensive tackle when I got the Iowa Western, so I made the transition from defensive end to defensive tackle,” Nelson said. ”That caught a lot of people’s attention. I was used to making tackles and not getting double-teamed. I think I did pretty well this year playing against double teams and taking on blocks. I played the run well at tackle.”
Just as important is the fact Nelson is on track to graduate next December from Iowa Western in another year. He makes no secret of where he’d like to end up once he’s acquired his AA degree.
“It was a sign-and-place deal with me and Iowa State before,” Nelson said. “I still want to go to Iowa State. If anything else happens, it would have to be something crazy for me not to go to Iowa State.”
Although he was announced as a member of Iowa State’s 2016 signing class, a Missouri prep didn’t quite make the cut academically and ended up at Iowa Western as a member of the Reivers’ crop of newcomers.
Defensive lineman Jerrion Nelson has gotten on track in Council Bluffs and is still being recruited by Iowa State to eventually join the program in 2018.
“Everything is going well with the staff at Iowa State,” said Nelson. “I talk to Coach (Alex) Golesh almost every day and he checks in on me to make sure my grades are good and all of that. I didn’t get to make it up to any games this fall because we had a lot of games on Saturday, but I’m going to come to some basketball games to get on campus. I want to meet some of the players and hang out with them to see what it’s like up there.
“He’s been saying I would play a big part in the scheme whenever I get up there on the defensive side. He said I’ll help them out a lot on defense. That’s good enough for me. I just want to play and help the team any kind of way I can.”
Coming out of Columbia Battle High School, Nelson at one time had P5 offers from the likes of ISU, Iowa, Purdue and Syracuse prior to joining the Cyclones as a sign-and-place in February.
The 6-foot-2, 265-pound Nelson recorded 45 tackles, 8.5 tackles-for-loss and four sacks as a freshman with the Reivers. He also made the change from being an end in high school to playing inside in 2016.
“They moved me to defensive tackle when I got the Iowa Western, so I made the transition from defensive end to defensive tackle,” Nelson said. ”That caught a lot of people’s attention. I was used to making tackles and not getting double-teamed. I think I did pretty well this year playing against double teams and taking on blocks. I played the run well at tackle.”
Just as important is the fact Nelson is on track to graduate next December from Iowa Western in another year. He makes no secret of where he’d like to end up once he’s acquired his AA degree.
“It was a sign-and-place deal with me and Iowa State before,” Nelson said. “I still want to go to Iowa State. If anything else happens, it would have to be something crazy for me not to go to Iowa State.”
