I placed this in the 2017 OL Thread, but I thought it may have more use here. Enjoy
Quenton Nelson gifs from the VT game.
Two things stand out about Nelson immediately:
1.) This kid is very powerful and he's a ferocious blocker:
2.) He's a really smart player:
Another snap where he lays his initial block and then adjusts to the blitzer/interior rusher and plants him:
You can tell this kid is super well coached and he's got a killer instinct. He finishes blocks like an animal but he's a clean player. Doesn't get grabby, and never takes it too far. Here's another good example:
Nelson is absolutely brilliant in pass protection. He plays with perfect technique. Great knee bend, back straight, head up, arms extended. He doesn't get tired and let his technique slip. He keeps his head on a swivel and is always feeling out the pocket and making adjustments. He is consistent all of the way through the fourth quarter and the result is that he never misses assignments or give up pressure. The only pressure from his area I saw were two bad play designs, one where he was stuck with two rushers and the other where he was supposed to trap but the rusher jumped the snap and got through immediately.
He's physically gifted. Flexible and moves his feet very well to maintain a wide base and good balance. Vines for arms and good quick twitch musculature for his size--usually the first one off the line of scrimmage and has a very sudden first few steps. He carries his weight well, huge trunk and wide, columnar body. He's just a massive player, 330 is his natural weight. He pretty much always generates push when he drives and has an absolutely immovable anchor. He's a true power blocker who's got an NFL ready body and could step onto the field as a rookie and be a high end starter.
As far as weaknesses, he doesn't have any major ones. Such a smart and disciplined and well coached player. The footspeed when he gets out into the second level is really good. And he's good at adjusting to moving targets. He is definitely a strong pull blocker and he is very good on reaches because those first steps are explosive and he keeps his head up and lands a good punch. Really excels at turning and sealing to open lanes. He's a very good run blocker period.
He's also gotten better this year than he was last year. His second level blocking in the BC game cutups was noticeably better than it was in the VT game I pulled these gifs from.
My projection for Nelson is that he's got All-Pro potential at LG with the size and balance and lateral fluidity to play OT too. If we had him at LG today, we'd have a top 5 to 10 line in the league, without Yanda. He'd fit anywhere, but he's a particularly great fit for our offense because of the multiple nature of our blocking schemes and the degree of difficulty required for the blocks in our run game.
Put this kid on my wish list. Nelson is number 1 on my wish list. He's a blue chipper who is probably going to get picked really high.
