Nelson comes to Minnesota with high expectations and a lot of excitement.
Phil Nelson, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound senior quarterback from Mankato West who committed to Minnesota in March, was named Minnesota’s Mr. Football. GopherHole.com attended the ceremony and talked to Nelson afterwards about the award, his senior season and expectations when he joins the Golden Gophers next month.
Nelson led Mankato West to an 11-1 mark, losing to Bemidji 45-26 in the Class AAAA state semifinals. He finished with 2,784 passing yards and 35 touchdowns. He is also an outstanding rusher who gained 1,253 yards with 20 more scores.
Nelson was also named the Associated Press Player of the Year and ESPN Minnesota Player of the Year.
Mankato West head coach Mark Esch is a big believer in his star quarterback.
“Philip is a smart, tough athletic football player,” said Esch. “His combination of arm strength, quick release, size and speed makes him the best quarterback I’ve ever coached. He is a leader and has a bright future at the next level playing for the Gophers.”
GopherHole.com attended the ceremony and talked to Nelson afterwards about the award, his senior season and expectations when he joins the Golden Gophers next month.
GH: How does it feel to be named Mr. Football?
PN: It is a great individual award, but like I said (during the award ceremony), it is all about the teammates and the coaching staff and everyone around me that made this possible.
GH: You will be flipping the coin and serving as the honorary captain at the Minnesota Vikings’ game at next weekend’s game as part of the Minnesota Vikings’ All-State team. That is quite an honor as well.
PN: You get to stand there next to Drew Brees and all those pros out there. Drew Brees is a guy that I really look up to, so that will be pretty cool.
GH: You had a fantastic season. I know that the season end a little sooner than what you would have liked to, but you have to be very pleased with how well things went this season?
PN: All you can ask for is to give it all you’ve got. I know that myself and all my teammates, the coaching staff and everyone around the program gave it all they had and that’s all we had.
GH: You have a lot going on the next month with the holidays, your graduation and starting college. It has to be an interesting time.
PN: It will be a great month to sit down and have a great Christmas and get ready to starting learning the ropes at the “U”
GH: Does that make you even more excited about starting things up at Minnesota?
PN: For sure. I can’t wait to start getting up there and working out with (strength and conditioning) Coach Klein and getting all the play book stuff learned and everything, so it will be great.
GH: The Gophers didn’t have the best season overall, but played better at the end of the year and finished out on a high note with a win over Illinois. Do that get you excited, too?
PN: For sure. You could tell as the season went on, that program really progressed. It is only going to get better from here on out. They already hit rock bottom and now the only way they can go is up and Coach Kill has this thing all under control, I know he does.
GH: You had your recruiting visit last weekend. How was that?
PN: It was great. Just getting to sit down and meet all the new guys coming in with the guys that were already committed and making even a better friendship with them. It is almost like we’ve already been teammates and we are already close with one another, so it is really exciting.
GH: Are you being a little bit of a recruiter yourself?
PN: Yes. We all are. All of us committed guys were all over the guys who were looking. Today, Lincoln (Plsek) from Waco, Texas committed. That is one that we got. We won him over. We are keeping in touch with all those guys.
GH: What about your role next year? Obviously, you are going to start in January. Have they talked to you about playing time versus maybe redshirting?
PN: They expect me to come in and compete. If they think that I am ready, then I guess I would play. They said that they are going to play the best players, regardless of who it is. I know that if it’s not me, I know that I am redshirting for sure.
GH: You figure that if Gray starts at quarterback and you redshirt, that with him graduating, worst case scenario, you would have a chance to start the 2013 season.
PN: It is not the worst thing to redshirt to sit back and learn even more throughout the season and find out what the Big Ten season is really like.
GH: How big of an advantage do you think it will be to start in January and go through spring practice?
PN: It will be a huge advantage. The big wave of recruits will come in June and I’ll already know the campus and know what goes on. It is great to get to learn before everything happens throughout the summer.
GH: Four of your future coaches (Bill Miller, Brian Anderson, Jeff Phelps and Jim Zebrowski) were in attendance for the Mr. Football award. That has to make you feel pretty good, too?
PN: They were really supportive of everything. I am very lucky to have such a great coaching staff here in my homestate.