Inside the HUDL with Derrick Nelson

The Knight Report recently caught up with former Rutgers Football offensive lineman Derrick Nelson to break down the HUDL films of Rutgers incoming freshmen. For those of you that don’t know Nelson, he played in 27 games at Rutgers over his last three seasons with the Scarlet Knights. During his junior and senior year he started 23 of the final 24 games of his Rutgers career.

Nelson played preseason football with the Baltimore Ravens last year before being cut right before the season. He is now back in New Jersey actively looking for a career in the HR field.

Here are Nelson’s film evaluations of the three offensive linemen that joined Rutgers Football as part of the 2018 class.

“He’s got what I like to call “big boy speed”. He’s super athletic and plays through the whistle, kind of reminds me of a Tariq Cole type. Again needs to learn to bend, Blazek will teach him that. He can get lazy in his stance from time to time and shows moments of fatigue from time to time. He like Rosso, will also need to put on some weight. I know Rosso is taller than O’Neal, but I believe he is more athletic and will make his money on the outside at tackle at the end of the day. He seems like he could be fast enough to get to that DE or end man on outside zones and can definitely be utilized for receiver screens to crack on the corners.” - Derrick Nelson

"I appreciate his finish on plays and just the tenacity he shows. He plays with a decent leverage. He also shows a little fatigue from time to time, but it seems like he loves to finish. At the end of the day, he will probably be a guard. He has a pretty good center of gravity and can finish plays. He also does well on double teams and doesn’t mind finishing plays down field." - Derrick Nelson

"Rosso has some great footwork and he’s really athletic. More towards the end of his film, he showed some great tenacity. He needs to work on the knee bend more and that will happen as he works more with coach Blazek. He also needs to work on playing through the whistle and not get caught looking at the play. Will definitely need to put on weight. There is no doubt in my mind that he can play at the next level. He’ll probably transfer over to a guard because of his marketability as a puller. I’d have to see more of him in person to have a better analysis." - Derrick Nelson