1:29Jerry Kill was hired as the Gophers football coach in December 2010. Two months later, quarterback Philip Nelson, a junior at Mankato West, came to Kill's office at the Gibson-Nagurski Building and announced he would sign with the Gophers.
This was basically the launching point for Kill's program. Tom Lemming, the recruiting maven from Chicago, had Nelson rated as the fourth-best quarterback prospect in the country.
A message was sent the day Nelson committed: Kill and his veteran staff were coaches capable of selling a hopeful future to recruits — and particularly top Minnesota prospects who had options elsewhere.
In the fall of 2010, his junior season, Nelson carried the dream of playing for the Wisconsin Badgers. His father, Pat, had played for the Badgers. The family had lived in Madison until 2005, when Pat's job as an engineer took the Nelsons to Mankato.
The legend now is that Bret Bielema's staff did not make a big effort to sign Nelson, because it was solid with Bart Houston, a four-star quarterback from California. Perhaps, but there's no doubt Nelson had plenty of excellent options beyond Wisconsin on that day he came into Kill's office in February 2011 and said, "I want to be a Gopher."
The numbers were sensational in the fall of 2011 for Nelson and Mankato West as the Scarlets steamrolled through the Big Nine, going 8-0 and averaging 49.6 points. They had a bye in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs and were playing Waconia in the second round on a Saturday afternoon in Mankato.
I had seen Nelson play a year earlier, when the Scarlets lost 23-14 to Mahtomedi's fierce running game in the quarterfinals of the state tournament. Nelson was dynamic running the spread offense, but somewhat lanky as a junior.
He had a different frame when I saw him in the game against Waconia a year later. He was listed at 6-3 and 216 pounds, 20 pounds heavier and looking fully like a Big Ten quarterback.
