Up next for the Texas Longhorns in a profile snapshot of former players in the United States Football League (USFL) is 27-year-old Chris Nelson.
Nelson, a 6-foot-3, 310-pound defensive tackle beast from Dundee, Florida, was selected by the Philadelphia Stars in the 75th round of the 2022 USFL Draft.
As a redshirt freshman for the Horns in 2015, Nelson suited up in eight games for Texas as a reserve defensive tackle — finishing his freshman campaign with seven total tackles (three solo), one sack and one QB hurry.
In 2016, as a sophomore at UT, Nelson played in all 12 games (eight starts at nose tackle) and totaled 45 tackles (29 solo), 1.5 sacks, one forced fumble and one QB hurry. He was also named honorable mention All-Big 12 and was also named to the All-Big 12 underclassmen team by ESPN.com.
In his junior season at Texas, Nelson played in 11 games for the Horns (starting seven) while racking up 18 total tackles (12 solo), one sack and one fumble recovery. Nelson was also named to the Academic All-Big 12 First Team in 2017.
As a senior in 2018 for the Longhorns, Nelson was named team captain and played in and started in all 14 games for UT — making 39 total tackles (26 solo), two QB hurries and one pass breakup. He registered five tackles for the Horns in a Big 12 Championship loss and had three tackles in Texas’ 28-21 victory over Georgia in the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
After being waived by the Pittsburgh Steelers following the team’s rookie mini-camp in May of 2019, Nelson spent some time with the Tennessee Titans as an undrafted free agent before finding a new football home in the USFL in 2022.
Thus far for the Stars in 2022, Nelson has garnered 17 total tackles (11 solo), 1.5 sacks and one pass deflection.
Fun facts: Nelson was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week in Sept. of 2016 and was also a two-time member on the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll in both the spring of 2017 and spring of 2018.
Next game for Nelson and the Philadelphia Stars (3-3, 2nd place in North): a battle against the Houston Gamblers (1-5, 4th place in South) on Sunday, May 29 at 5 pm Central Time on Peacock.
Due up next for the Texas Longhorns in a USFL profile snapshot: Brennan Eagles.
