All 105 is a Nittany Sports Now series profiling each Penn State football player. This edition will look at redshirt sophomore offensive lineman JB Nelson
Height: 6-foot-5
Weight: 294 pounds
Hometown: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Before Penn State
High School: Nelson lettered three years at Mt. Lebanon High School, starting all three seasons at offensive and defensive line. Nelson captained Mt. Lebanon in his junior and senior seasons and helped the Blue Devils to a WPIAL semifinal appearance in 2019. As a senior, Nelson finished with 45 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and four sacks, earning All-22 honors from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Lackawanna Community College: Nelson started his college football career at Lackawanna Community College, the same school current Penn State safety Ji’Ayir Brown and former Penn State safety and current Chicago Bear Jaquan Brisker attended.
Nelson started all 10 games in Lackawanna’s 2021 season, helping the team to a 7-3 record.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.247Sports and Rivals each had him as a three-star recruit. 247’s composite ratings had him as a four-star, and 247 had him as the No. 4 JUCO player in the nation.
He committed to Penn State in July of 2021, choosing it over Maryland, NC State, Ole Miss and West Virginia, among other schools.
Where he stands: Although he isn’t coming into opening night with the same hype as other new Penn State offensive lineman Hunter Nourzad or touted redshirt freshman Landon Tengwall, Penn State fans will be interested in what Nelson brings.
He has good size, can play either guard or tackle and has a good pedigree at the JUCO level, further helped by Brisker and Brown’s success.
Nelson might not start for Penn State immediately; Landon Tengwall shapes up to have one guard spot, and Nourzad is battling Sal Wormley for the other. At tackle, Olu Fashanu appears to have one place locked down, and Caedan Wallace is in line for the other.
Expect to see Nelson get increased playing time at either guard or tackle throughout the season.
A quote about Nelson: “He’s a hard worker,” Trautwein said at Penn State’s media day earlier this month. “He’s a guy that can play both guard and tackle. Just because he’s only been here (a few months), I kind of been keeping him on the side he feels better at, which is the left side. So he’s a left guard/left tackle that can play both, and I can just keep him one practice all at left guard or wherever he feels comfortable.”
