Nelson getting 1st-round projections for ’22 draft
The 2022 NFL draft may not be for another year, but one Miami Hurricane is already getting way-too-early projections as a first-round pick next year: Zion Nelson.
That’s right. The once-undersized left tackle and under-the-radar, two-star recruit that Miami swooped in late in his recruitment to lure him away from his Appalachian State commitment.
It may be surprising considering Nelson was a project for the Hurricanes when they first brought him on board. Out of Sumter, South Carolina, Nelson arrived at UM for his initial spring session in 2019 at 240 pounds. He had to gain significant weight to transform into a college offensive lineman and then recalibrate his athleticism amid the rapid weight gain.
But draft analysts like how he won the starting left tackle job as a true freshman, albeit in a 2019 season where the Hurricanes were desperate for someone to step up in that spot and Nelson went through his early struggles. Nelson was then in and out at left tackle with John Campbell to begin the 2020 season, and he became the consistent starter by year’s end.
College Football News ranks Nelson as the No. 13 2022 draft prospect. 247 Sports tabbed him among college football players in first-round consideration next year. WalterFootball projects Nelson will be the No. 10 pick in a 2022 mock draft, going as far as estimating the Jacksonville Jaguars will pick there and eye a left tackle to protect quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who is likely to be the top pick in the upcoming draft.
When Nelson spoke to reporters in the middle of the Hurricanes’ spring session, he said he was weighing in at 315 pounds, up 75 from when he first landed in Coral Gables out of high school, and 16 percent body fat. Getting stronger while maintaining his athleticism that initially made him desirable at left tackle in the 2019 opener against the Florida Gators has been instrumental in his development.
“He wasn’t ready to play Florida two years ago,” offensive line coach Garin Justice, now in his second season at Miami, told 560-AM last week. “He wasn’t ready to play that game, but he was probably the best option we had at the time. But you also look at him, you look at his physical skill set, you also see why he played that game because he does have a lot of twitch, a lot of athletic ability you can’t coach as an offensive line coach. There’s a reason why people and these experts say he’s a potential guy in a year or two. He’s fun to coach. He does have some work to do fundamentally. He’s got to get better.”
Said veteran center Corey Gaynor last week: “He’s just a freak of nature. Zion’s an incredibly gifted football player. He’s got long arms. Think he’s big and strong, and I think he’s very twitchy. He’s everything you want out of a left tackle.”
In 2020, Nelson started one of the first five games at left tackle for UM, but he then re-earned his steady starting role for the last six after starting every game as a true freshman in 2019.
“I want to be more dominant on the field,” Nelson said last month. “I’m nowhere near where I want to be right now.”
There is still much to be determined before the 2022 NFL draft. Draft sites around the same time last year projected defensive end Gregory Rousseau and tight end Brevin Jordan as Hurricanes that would turn into first-round picks in the 2021 draft.
Jordan is now a likely Day 2 pick as a second- or third-round selection. Rousseau’s draft stock has dropped from being a top-10 projection to now going late in the first round with some believing he’ll fall into the second round. Conversely, Miami defensive end Jaelan Phillips is now a projected first-round pick after he wasn’t even on the draft radar a year ago.
Former Hurricanes quarterback Brad Kaaya was once a projected first-round pick before his junior season and ended up being taken in the sixth round in 2017.
Ahead of the 2018 season, one 2019 mock draft had safety Jaquan Johnson, defensive end Joe Jackson and cornerback Michael Jackson all being selected in the first round. The two Jacksons were taken in the fifth round, while Johnson was chosen in the sixth.