Nebraska football signee gets player of the year award

The Nebraska football team hasn’t been able to take advantage of Carter Nelson just yet. He hasn’t played a down for the Huskers yet. But when he does, there’s a very good chance that he’s going to bring some serious talent to the field.

That was demonstrated again this weekend when the Nebraska Cornhuskers tight end was named the Omaha World Herald’s Athlete of the Year. And one of the reasons he got the award is because he’s shown a great ability in many sports.

He could have enrolled with Nebraska football early. But he wanted to play basketball. He wanted to enjoy high school a bit longer and help his teammates. And by staying he just kept showing up as a heck of a talent. As someone who is going to be really fun to watch when he gets to Memorial Stadium.

“With an athlete like him, it's allowed our school to do a lot more than what we normally would have been able to help our basketball and track and football, obviously, with the athletes we’ve had,’’ Carter’s father Jake said.

“As a dad, it’s just been awesome, the way he has become a team player. For everything that’s gone on, he could have easily let everything go to his head.”

Nebraska football signee is about to break out in a big way

Carter said his parents have made an impact.

“I never really went to daycare. I just went to practices, because they've always been coaches,’’ he said. “They've just been super-supportive through all this. I've not been able to do a single thing that I've done to this point without them.”

According to Sam McKewon, Nelson’s competition for Athlete of the Year included Class of 2025 NU football recruit and three-time state wrestling champion Tyson Terry from Omaha North, state record-holder distance runner Juan Gonzalez from Fremont, double-gold throws champion and others.

The Nebraska football team has a heck of a talent on their hands. Here’s hoping he shows that in 2024.