What started as a battle between Penn State and Notre Dame in the earlier stages of the process, seemed destined to come down to Penn State and South Carolina as
Keenan Nelson Jr.'s recruitment progressed.
While many believed Penn State was the favorite throughout the process, after taking official visits to both South Carolina and Penn State in June, the Gamecocks ultimately won out, landing the four-star cornerback on Tuesday and giving Shane Beamer and Co. their highest-rated commit to date.
The Gamecocks, led by defensive backs coach Torrian Gray and area recruiter Pete Lembo, who has been excellent in helping the Gamecocks make northeast inroads, steadily gained ground on the in-state Nittany Lions before seemingly passing them during or shortly after his official visit to Columbia.
The 6-foot, 197-pounder works out with multiple private DB trainers. In Philly, he trains with Philadelphia Skills Academy founder Keita Crespina.
But Nelson also makes trips to the Atlanta area to train with Oliver Davis, popular DB trainer for top prospects and NFL players in the southeast. Davis is also former Gamecock and first-round draft pick Jaycee Horn's trainer and it's there that Horn put in an early good word for South Carolina as a school and program with Nelson.
It's impossible to quantify exactly how much that helped, but it never hurts when the top defensive player taken in the NFL Draft talks up your program with a prospect who looks up to him.
Past the help from Horn, Nelson singled out the job that Gray has done recruiting him when he talked to him after his OV, mentioning both the consistent contact from Gray and his proven track record of putting players in the NFL.
From a perception standpoint, Nelson gives the Gamecocks another key out-of-state recruiting win as they now have the Nos. 3 (Nelson) and 5 (Ryan Brubaker) prospects in Pennsylvania for 2022 in their class.
On the field, Nelson gives the Gamecocks another versatile defensive back prospect with the skillset to play multiple positions and match up with receivers big and small. While Nelson doesn't have the track exploits of the more-raw Emory Floyd, he's further along in his development and probably has a chance to make an early impact at South Carolina as a patient, physical DB who could play corner or provide strong coverage ability at nickel or safety.
Nelson isn't afraid to come up and hit from the cornerback spot and also is patient in maintaining his position in phase with receivers before breaking on the football at the last moment.
Nelson was a standout at the Rivals Camp Series regional event in the northeast where he took home defensive back MVP honors and earned an invite to the Rivals Five-Star Challenge and impressed analysts Adam Friedman and Josh Hemholdt with his performance.
The defensive backs group was loaded with impressive upper and underclassmen but Nelson was the most consistent throughout the day. He has the size, speed, and instincts to compete with any style of receiver that lines up across from him. Nelson can play off the ball or press coverage and knows when to be physical and when to use his speed to his advantage. He made a lot of plays on the ball and kept pretty much everything in front of him.
Keenan Nelson Jr. is a very savvy and patient defensive back that does a good job making plays on the ball. He may not have been the fastest defensive back on the field but he closed on the ball well and showed the technical skills that college coaches love seeing from recruits. Against smaller receivers, Nelson was able use his physicality and strength to disrupt the receivers. Nelson was strong enough to throw off the timing between quarterbacks and bigger receivers, but his speed, quickness and instincts really shined in these situations.
Nelson is ranked the No. 18 CB and No. 134 overall prospect in the 2022 class.
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