Garrett Nelson made the long, triumphant return trip west from Omaha to Scottsbluff on Sunday not knowing that he would soon again pack up and head east.
Not back to Omaha, mind you, where he won a Class B heavyweight state championship on Saturday afternoon, but rather on a celebratory family vacation to the Sunshine State.
“I got home and (my parents) were like, ‘Yup, we’re going to Florida,’†Nelson said over the phone from an assuredly prime seat by an Inverness-area pool on Monday afternoon. “So now I’m just kind of hanging out.â€
Nelson, who is verbally committed to play football at Nebraska in 2019 and will likely start out as a linebacker, rolled to a 33-3 record as a junior and dispatched Alliance’s Nathan Lauder 7-3 in the Class B final for his first state championship. Nelson had already topped Lauder in the district tournament and took care of business again with hardware on the line.
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“I was confident from the start and I knew that I had a plan and, if I executed it, I would be fine to win my match,†said Nelson, who weighed in at 226 pounds but typically goes about 233 on his 6-foot-3 frame, meaning he’s sometimes 50-plus pounds lighter than the competition. “I got the end result I wanted really badly.â€
The only thing Nelson didn’t accomplish on the weekend was a meeting with the Husker football coaching staff. He at first planned to use a long break in the action Friday to have lunch with head coach Scott Frost and others in Lincoln, but decided it was too much to try to fit into such an important weekend.
“(State) was a huge deal for me and so I felt like I wanted to focus on the tournament and not overwhelm myself with other obligations,†said Nelson, who has not decided if he’ll try to defend his title next winter or enroll early at NU. “I just wanted to focus on winning.â€
There will be plenty of time for visits and next steps on the football front once the rays are soaked up and the poolside is replaced by the Nebraska panhandle.
Nelson said he’ll be at the Red-White spring game on April 21 and may well make it to Lincoln before that, too. In the meantime, he’s in text communication with inside linebackers coach and in-state recruiting lead Barrett Ruud on a daily basis and hears from Erik Chinander and Frost, too.
“All of the coaches congratulated me when I won state and they’re all really nice guys,†he said. “I can’t wait to meet them all.â€
And yes, he knows the 2019 class is shaping up to be a strong one across the state. Nelson and York’s Garrett Snodgrass, each Super-State selections by the Journal Star last fall as juniors, are already committed to the Huskers. Nelson said he texts with Omaha Burke standouts Nick Henrich (four-star linebacker) and Chris Hickman (four-star tight end) along with other uncommitted prospects.
If Nelson had his way, they’d all wind up in Lincoln.
“It’s interesting because we were the kids that were obsessed with Nebraska football, watching it all the time, wanting to be there all the time,†he said. “And we were the kids that saw the downfall and what happened to recruiting and the in-state kids and we want to bring it back. We were motivated to change that and we’re changing it right now and I think that says something about who we are as a state and who we came up with as parents and just as a culture.
“It’s reminiscent of when Coach Frost played and how the guys around him and the guys in-state dominated the program and they were the leaders . … I hope we get back to that when I’m in college and after I leave.â€