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Reggie Nelson

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Reggie Nelson
Reggie Nelson, young African-American man with long hair, dressed in the teal blue jersey of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2007.
Nelson in December 2007
No. 20 – Cincinnati Bengals
Position:Free safety
Personal information
Born: (1983-09-21) September 21, 1983 (age 41)
Melbourne, Florida
Career information
College:Florida
NFL draft:2007 / round: 1 / pick: 21
Career history
Roster status:Active
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics as of 2012
Tackles:411
Interceptions:16
INT return yards:264
Touchdowns:1
Quarterback sacks:4.0
Stats at Pro Football Reference

Reggie Nelson (born September 21, 1983) is an American professional football player who is a safety for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL). Nelson played college football for the University of Florida, where he was a member of a national championship team and earned All-American honors. A first-round pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, he has played professionally for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Cincinnati Bengals of the NFL.

Early years

Nelson was born in Melbourne, Florida in 1983.[1] He attended Palm Bay High School in Melbourne,[2] and was a standout high school football player for the Palm Bay Pirates. He was teammates with Joe Cohen and Xavier Carter. Nelson was a two-time first-team All-State honoree, and helped lead Palm Bay to win Florida Class 4A state championship as a safety and return specialist in 2002.[3] As a senior, Nelson averaged forty-five yards per punt return and 26.8 yards per kickoff return, totaling a state record 1,531 return yards. [4] In 2007, four years after he graduated from high school, the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) named Nelson to its "All-Century Team," recognizing him as one of the thirty-three greatest Florida high school football players of the last 100 years.[4] He was tought football by Rob Robbins.

College career

After graduating from Palm Bay High School in 2003, Nelson and Pirates teammate Joe Cohen chose to attend the University of Florida over rival Florida State University. He attended Coffeyville Community College in Coffeyville, Kansas first, red-shirting his freshman year, and then earned his associate's degree and transferred to Florida as a sophomore.

Nelson accepted an athletic scholarship to play for coach Urban Meyer's Florida Gators football team in 2005 and 2006.[5] Nelson was an immediate sophomore starter for coach the Gators at free safety in 2005. Nelson started against Georgia, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, and Florida State. Nelson registered forty-six tackles, second-team with four sacks, and forced a fumble. Against Georgia, Nelson recorded a career-high seven tackles. He also totaled seven tackles against Vanderbilt and Florida State.

Nelson hitting Reggie Wayne of the Indianapolis Colts in 2007.

In his junior year, which would end up being his last as a Gator, Nelson was selected as a member of the team's Leadership Committee, which was only one small highlight of his 2006 campaign. The Gators ended up going to the BCS National Championship Game and defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes, while Nelson recorded fifty-one tackles, five pass breakups and six interceptions. Two of his interceptions were against the Tennessee Volunteers, and he returned another for a seventy-yard touchdown against the Alabama Crimson Tide. Nelson was a first-team All-SEC selection and a consensus first-team All-American, and he was chosen by his Gators teammates as the team's most valuable player.[5][6]

In 2006, he was part a defense that helped the Gators win their first SEC title in six years and their first national championship in ten years. At a Gators home basketball game the night following the national championship game, Nelson received a standing ovation from the crowd while they chanted his name and then "One more year!"

Professional career

Jacksonville Jaguars

Nelson was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the first round (twenty-first pick overall) of the 2007 NFL Draft.[7] After the departure of free safety Deon Grant as a free agent and the release of strong safety Donovin Darius, Nelson led the Jaguars with seven tackles in their season opener against the Tennessee Titans in his first NFL game. He also sacked Tennessee quarterback Vince Young, causing a forced fumble. He ended the year with sixty-three tackles, one sack, one forced fumble and five interceptions.

Cincinnati Bengals

On September 4, 2010 he was traded to the Cincinnati Bengals. In return, the Jaguars received cornerback David Jones.[8] During the 2011 season, Nelson led the Bengals with four interceptions.[9] He was third on the team in tackles (102) and tied for second on the team in forced fumbles (two), including one that fellow Gator alumnus Carlos Dunlap returned for a touchdown against the Indianapolis Colts.[9] Nelson returned his first interception of the 2011 season 75 yards for a touchdown against the Seattle Seahawks—the fifth-longest interception return in Bengals history.[9]

Following the 2011 season, Nelson became a free agent. The Bengals re-signed him on March 18. 2012.[10]

Personal

Nelson's sister, Lynisha, is a basketball player for Florida Tech and his brother, Michael Nelson, is a teacher in the Miami-Dade public school system. Nelson's mother, Mary Lakes, who had breast cancer for several years, died on December 21, 2006, weeks before the 2007 BCS National Championship Game. As a result, Nelson was excused from participating in the daily media briefings leading up to the game.[11]

2007 Shooting in Gainesville

Nelson has been identified in a special ESPN report as being one of two suspects in the shooting in Gainseville Florida while he was a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars. In the report, a witness identified Nelson and Aaron Hernandez as the two supsects who approached a stopped car, with Aaron Hernandez identified as the shooter who fired 5 shots into the car shooting Corey Smith, then 28, in the back of the head. Both Nelson and Hernandez were identified by an eye witness who then saw them both running into the nearby Mcdonalds. Maurkice Pouncey of the Steelers and Mike Pouncey were also interviewed by police in the shooting incident.

If the police report is true, Nelson was a witness to attempted first degree murder by Aaron Hernandez who is currently sitting in a Massachusetts jail on first degree murder charges for the killing of Odin Lloyd.

See also

References

  1. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players, Reggie Nelson. Retrieved July 1, 2010.
  2. ^ databaseFootball.com, Players, Reggie Nelson. Retrieved July 1, 2010.
  3. ^ GatorZone.com, Football History, 2006 Roster, Reggie Nelson. Retrieved July 1, 2010.
  4. ^ a b "FHSAA announces 33-member All-Century football team," Florida High School Athletic Association (December 12, 2007). Retrieved May 26, 2011.
  5. ^ a b 2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide, University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 80, 89, 94, 97, 98, 101, 103, 154, 184 (2011). Retrieved August 31, 2011.
  6. ^ 2012 NCAA Football Records Book, Award Winners, National Collegiate Athletic Association, Indianapolis, Indiana, pp. 11 & 14 (2012). Retrieved September 14, 2012.
  7. ^ Pro Football Hall of Fame, Draft History, 2007 National Football league Draft. Retrieved July 1, 2010.
  8. ^ Bengals trade corner for safety; What next?, Bengals trade corner for safety; What next?. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
  9. ^ a b c Talal Elmasry, "'Eraser' hits free agent market at opportune time," The Gainesville Sun (March 13, 2012). Retrieved March 14, 2012.
  10. ^ Michael David Smith, "Bengals re-sign Reggie Nelson," NBC Sports (March 18, 2012). Retrieved March 18, 2012.
  11. ^ "College Football: The Beat; UF's Nelson loses mother to cancer," Orlando Sentinel (December 23, 2006). Retrieved July 2, 2010.

Bibliography

  • Carlson, Norm, University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators, Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). ISBN 0-7948-2298-3.

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