Nigel Nelson is a linebacker at Arkansas State who has not played in Arkansas State's 8 games this season; the last season with a stat line was 2025.
Arkansas State lists 9 linebackers this season.
Arkansas State is 4-4. Next: vs UL Monroe, Sat Nov 7.
Nelson is steady in every phase without a signature trait. On tape: 10 tackles against Southeast Missouri State, Week 1, 2025.
Play style
Solid in every phase without a signature dimension.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
54 tackles. 2 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 1 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Arkansas State | 54 | 21 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2 |
| Career | 54 | 21 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 13 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 42-24vs Southeast Missouri State | 10 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | L 14-56vs Arkansas | 8 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | L 16-24vs No. 14 Iowa State | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 4 | L 21-28@ Kennesaw State | 4 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | L 16-28@ UL Monroe | 3 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | W 31-30vs Texas State | 3 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | W 15-14@ South Alabama | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | W 34-24vs Georgia Southern | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | W 23-10@ Troy | 8 | 4 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | L 21-27vs Southern Miss | 5 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | L 30-34vs Louisiana | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | W 30-29@ App State | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Bowl | W 34-28vs Missouri State | 6 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Total | 54 | 21 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 2 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
Tackle volume
54tackles this seasonTFL rate
2%1 TFLSack rate
2%1 sackPD rate
4%2 pass breakups54 tackles · 1 for loss · 1 sack.
Splits · Per-game
2025 season · 13 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 3.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Road5g | 3.4 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 5.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 2.8 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Butch Jones
Pass share
53.7%
506 pass / 437 run
Plays / game
72.5
13 games
Team sack rate
5.3%
530 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Player standing · 2025
Fewer tackles a game than most FBS linebackers who play every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Three-star recruit. Now #385 at the position.
2026 outlook
Outside shot for All-Sun Belt
Based on 2025: #40 of 63 Sun Belt LBs
A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 15% of returning players who ranked #21 or lower at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 13–17%).
The No. 1,540 recruit in the country is starting at linebacker in the Sun Belt.
