Five years and three Hawaii defensive coordinators ago the pride of Logan, Utah, did the best he could. But things didn’t go very well for the home team quarterback — or any of the Aggies — on that chilly day on Merlin Olsen Field at Romney Stadium. The most talented football team in UH history routed Utah State, 63-10.
In those days, Riley Nelson was a USU true freshman, the Aggies’ favorite son and hope for the future — a state-records-setting star at Logan High School who chose Utah State over the state’s more prominent football schools, Utah and Brigham Young.
Nelson says he doesn’t remember specifics of the Hawaii game. Just pain. “I took the beating of a lifetime. I’ve never been so sore. I was an 18-year-old punk kid.”
Now he’s a 23-year-old junior who hopes to get another crack at the Warriors in three days at Aloha Stadium, this time as BYU’s quarterback. Nelson suffered chest and lung injuries two weeks ago against Idaho, but has recovered quickly enough to practice this week and could start Saturday.
So, despite 2006 being a long past era in the world of college football, is there anything Nelson learned from that game that might help him against the current Hawaii defense?
“Of course they’re going to be different schematically,” he said in a phone interview from Provo on Tuesday. “But there are constants. Tenacity and aggressiveness. That’s just part of what Warrior football is.”
Nelson completed 17 of 29 passes for 225 yards and an interception and rushed 15 times for a then-career-high 65 yards against UH. It wasn’t a terrible performance, but the Aggies were a couple of years away from being able to compete with the Warriors. When that time came, though, Nelson was gone.
After a freshman year in which he played in eight games, he switched to attempting religious conversions rather than the third-down variety.
In 2008, near the end of his LDS mission in Spain, Nelson transferred to BYU.
The Aggies had a good new quarterback in Diondre Borel. But losing Nelson was still a blow to USU because it had held off the state’s big schools when he came out of high school. Nelson has a long line of ancestors who were Utah State coaches and athletes. A field house is named after one of his three great-grandfathers who were “deeply connected to the school,” he said.
“(Transferring) was mostly personal reasons. There’s a little bit (of criticism for the move), but they’ve got a whole new staff up there now. People have kind of forgotten about it, especially since they’re having success now. I was up there to see them beat Nevada last week. There’s a lot of excitement about what’s going on there.”
Logan High’s current quarterback, B.J. Nelson, recently committed to the Aggies. “They’ve got my brother, so hopefully they’re not upset with me anymore.”
Riley Nelson has completed 59.2 percent of his passes this season with 13 touchdowns and five interceptions. He’s also rushed for 379 yards and a touchdown.
He said he gets compared to Tim Tebow of the Denver Broncos sometimes. “We’re not really that similar, except we both scramble and we’re both left-handed. He’s a lot bigger than me. I do respect him a lot because despite criticism he’s able to perform.
“I wouldn’t really say he’s a role model, because we’re the same age,” Nelson said with a laugh. “I remember him coming out of Nease High School in Florida the same time I graduated.”
Five years ago. A lifetime in college football.
UH beat Riley Nelson the kid. Now the Warriors get a shot at Riley Nelson the man.
