Jack Nelson (born January 15, 2002) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

offensive tackle Offensive may refer to: * Offensive (military), type of military operation * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Fighting words, spoken words which would have a tendency to cause acts of violence by the ...

for the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the College athletics in the United States, athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I ...

and was selected by the Falcons in the seventh round of the 2025 NFL draft.

Early life

Nelson attended Stoughton High School in

Stoughton, Wisconsin Stoughton ( ) is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. It straddles the Yahara River about southeast of the state capital, Madison, Wisconsin, Madison. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,173. Stoughton is part of the Madison ...

. He was rated as a five-star recruit and committed to play

for the

College career

Nelson was

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

as a freshman in 2020 and appeared in one game against

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. In 2021, he started all 13 games for the Badgers at right guard and earned honorable mention all-

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

honors. During the 2022 season, Nelson started all 12 games at left tackle for Wisconsin. In the 2023 season, he started all 13 games for the Badgers at left tackle.

Professional career

Nelson was selected by the

with the 218th pick in the seventh round of the 2025 NFL draft.

Personal life

Nelson's father Todd played as an offensive tackle for the Wisconsin Badgers, and his younger brother Barrett is also an offensive tackle for Wisconsin.

References

External links

Atlanta Falcons bioWisconsin Badgers bio
2002 births Living people People from Stoughton, Wisconsin Players of American football from Wisconsin American football offensive linemen American football offensive tackles Wisconsin Badgers football players Atlanta Falcons players {{Amfoot-bio-stub