Penn State and its fans got to see more of JB Nelson on the field than they expected last season.
Days before the team opened its 2024 campaign, projected starting left guard Landon Tengwall announced that he had to medically retire from football.
That meant somebody had to step up and start at left guard, and as it turned out, that somebody was Nelson.
When Nelson was on the field, he more than held his own. Unfortunately, he ended up dealing with his own injury troubles in 2023.
Now, it’s 2024, and Nelson’s the latest subject of All 105, a Nittany Sports Now series profiling each Penn State player.
Height: 6-foot-5
Weight: 300 pounds
Hometown: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
High School: JB 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.
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.
2022: Nelson appeared in four games last season along the offensive front. His best game coming against Indiana when the Nittany Lions rushed for 483 yards and four touchdowns behind him and his linemates.
Last year: Nelson played in 11 of Penn State’s 13 games, starting eight. At season’s end, he was named a unanimous All-Big Ten selection.
Where he stands: Despite being an all-conference performer last season, it looks like Nelson will be in a position battle with Vega Ioane for starting left guard. In any case, Nelson will get plenty of reps if his health holds up. Ioane ended up with 599 snaps last season per Pro Football Focus— ninth on Penn State’s offense and 173 more than Nelson, who did miss games due to injury. Coach James Franklin has mentioned before that Penn State likes to give o-linemen “starter reps” even if they’re not technically starting, so Nelson could end up in that category.
A quote by JB Nelson: “I would say the biggest thing is confidence and not as much nervousness. Once I went into the first game last year against West Virginia, the biggest thing I felt was nervousness. But once I got that out of the way and you’re like, ‘Yeah, I can compete and play just as good as everybody else.’ That was the biggest thing for me.” — Nelson at Penn State’s Media Day this season via Justin Guerriero of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
A quote about Nelson: ”You can make the argument that he may be our most physical lineman. I know our defensive linemen have a ton of respect for him.” — James Franklin after a practice last August.
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