Originally posted by Fanaticofnfl:
Can we get away with trading 10 ten spots and still getting this guy?
Hard to tell. I'm thinking he'd go anywhere from 6 to 12, especially if he tests really well during the Combine and team interviews.
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Originally posted by Fanaticofnfl:
Can we get away with trading 10 ten spots and still getting this guy?
There just are not alot of elite players at their position, he is one of themOriginally posted by Phoenix49ers:Originally posted by Fanaticofnfl:Can we get away with trading 10 ten spots and still getting this guy?
Hard to tell. I'm thinking he'd go anywhere from 6 to 12, especially if he tests really well during the Combine and team interviews.
Originally posted by ChaunceyGardner:
There just are not alot of elite players at their position, he is one of them
11. Cincinnati: OG Quenton Nelson, Notre Dame
Losses in free agency and a lack of development have left the offensive line in shambles. A quick fix comes with Quenton Nelson. The Notre Dame left guard is huge in the run game and has the agility to succeed in space as a pass-blocker.
Mike Vorel @mikevorel
"When you see Quenton pull, whoever's on that end of the field better run home to his mother, because he's done."
Dane BruglerVerified account @dpbrugler Oct 29
LG Quenton Nelson is the best OL in the country. I have a 2nd round grade on Mike McGlinchey.
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
Those words, clipped off the end of Robert Frost's poem, "The Road Not Taken," appear prominently on the profile pages of Quenton Nelson's social media accounts.
Not by accident, either.
Because, to be clear, Nelson — ranked as a five-star prospect by Rivals out of Red Bank Catholic High School in 2014 — could have attended college wherever he wanted. He could have played for Michigan State, the school he rooted for as a kid. He could have opted for Miami or Nebraska or Oklahoma or Alabama.
He could have committed to Boston College or Penn State, two regional favorites that promised immediate playing time.
But he chose Notre Dame.
He chose the long, hard road — the risk, and the reward.
He chose the challenge.
"They already had (Alex) Bars, (Sam) Mustipher, (Jimmy) Byrne committed. These were all good players," Craig Nelson said. "I told him, 'There's eight upperclassmen you have to beat out. You may be sitting an awfully long time at Notre Dame.'
"He said, 'Dad, if I can't start there, then my dream for the NFL is moot.' "
Quenton Nelson pinned a promise to the back of his bedroom door.
"I'm going to start as a redshirt freshman at Notre Dame."
"He did it," Craig Nelson said, "and that was that."
Joe McAuliffe wants to tell you about two people.
Both are Quenton Nelson.
"He has the enormous hands and the enormously long arms with the wide shoulders," said McAuliffe, who started training Quenton in the eighth grade. "It's like looking at two people when you're looking at him, he's so wide side-to-side."
Craig Nelson made sure to emphasize that frame — that battering ram of a body — when Quenton took his first unofficial visit to Notre Dame before earning a scholarship offer.
"I remember going out and buying him all of the dry fit shirts a size smaller," Craig Nelson said. "I bought them in the color (of the schools) we were visiting. "We had a purple one for Northwestern and a crimson one for Ohio State and a kelly green one for Notre Dame.
"I will tell you, when he walked into that gym with the shirt tucked into his jeans, he got a tremendous amount of looks, like, 'Who the hell is this kid?'"
Quenton Nelson has a knack for memorable first impressions. Take it from graduate student left tackle Mike McGlinchey, who first saw Nelson at Notre Dame's offensive line camp when Quenton was already committed.
"We were watching 1-on-1s, and all of a sudden there's this refrigerator playing left tackle that's a high school kid," McGlinchey said. "I'm like, 'Who the hell is that?' "
And, like any good refrigerator, Quenton Nelson knows how to store his food.
"The most unbelievable eater I think I've ever seen is Quenton Nelson, bar none," said former Notre Dame offensive lineman Mark Harrell, who claims to have personally witnessed Nelson digest "eight or nine" chicken Parmesan servings in a single sitting.
But don't misunderstand: there is no excess fat on Quenton Nelson. The consensus midseason All-American is 340 pounds of carefully constructed menace. He bench-pressed 26 repetitions of 225 pounds … in high school. That same year, at the NFL Combine, future first-overall pick Jadeveon Clowney could only muster 21 reps.
McAuliffe has trained a formidable roster of NFL athletes, from running backs Donald Brown and Knowshon Moreno, to offensive tackles Rob Petitti and Cedrick Lang, to tight end Garrett Graham, to current Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Vinny Curry and long snapper Rick Lovato.
Quenton Nelson is decidedly different.
"His warm-up would be most people's workout," said McAuliffe, a world champion powerlifter in his own right.
"He's ultimately the fittest big man I've ever seen."
Originally posted by Ninerjohn:who said to take him in the top 5? He is the ideal pick if the Niners can move down to around 10 and get their 2nd rd pick back.
Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:Ideally you trade back a few spots and draft him. But I kind of really like the idea of signing Ryan Jensen in FA and drafting Nelson.
Right off the bat the interior of the OL gets a lot better and a hell of a lot meaner and tougher, even moreso if Garnett can turn out to be someone useful at RG.
Originally posted by eastcoast49ersfan:Only question mark I have about Nelson is his arm length, but it's probably slightly better than Zach Martin's (in the 33-33.5" range) which is good enough for me at OG. McGlinchey has massively long arms (probably 35+") judging by this picture (he's 6'8 and Nelson is 6'5 for reference). It would be sweet to grab both of them.
Originally posted by eastcoast49ersfan:
Only question mark I have about Nelson is his arm length, but it's probably slightly better than Zach Martin's (in the 33-33.5" range) which is good enough for me at OG. McGlinchey has massively long arms (probably 35+") judging by this picture (he's 6'8 and Nelson is 6'5 for reference). It would be sweet to grab both of them.
Originally posted by Ninerjohn:
Long arms arent nearly as important for an offensive guard compared to an offensive tackle. I dont think anyone would be concerned about this with an elite prospect like Nelson.
This is the guy I want. The Niners have a major role at OG and he would be a starter from Day 1