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Iowa football: Anthony Nelson receives 2nd B1G Player of the Week award

By Andrew Wade

IOWA CITY, IOWA- NOVEMBER 23: Defensive end Anthony Nelson #98 of the Iowa Hawkeyes gets a hand on the ball during the second half against quarterback Adrian Martinez #2 of the Nebraska Cornhuskers on November 23, 2018 at Kinnick Stadium, in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images)
IOWA CITY, IOWA- NOVEMBER 23: Defensive end Anthony Nelson #98 of the Iowa Hawkeyes gets a hand on the ball during the second half against quarterback Adrian Martinez #2 of the Nebraska Cornhuskers on November 23, 2018 at Kinnick Stadium, in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images) /
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The Iowa football team narrowly escaped Nebraska Saturday in large part due to Anthony Nelson’s performance. Today he received recognition for his play.

Anthony Nelson has been one of the Iowa football team’s top defensive players this season. The junior from Waukee, Iowa has been quietly rising up draft boards from his outstanding play and he finished the regular season off strong with another great performance against Nebraska.

In the Heroes Game rivalry game, Nelson came up huge much like he did in the Floyd of Rosedale rivalry game versus Minnesota when he had three sacks.

During Friday’s contest, Nelson was a terror to Nebraska’s freshman Adrian Martinez. He sacked the young quarterback twice, knocked down one of his passes, hurried him into an incomplete pass another time and finished with eight total tackles. That’s quite the stat line for a day’s work.

His performance led to him being named Big Ten Co-Defensive Player of the Week.

This is the second time Anthony Nelson has taken home the honors and the fourth time an Iowa football player has taken home the honors (Nelson – twice, AJ Epenesa – twice).

The 6’7”, 271 pound defensive end has been a force for Phil Parker throughout the season, building off a great first two years as a starter for the Iowa football team where registered a combined 74 tackles and 13.5 sacks.

With two sacks against Nebraska, Nelson now has ten sacks on the season, which is 12th best in the nation and tied for first in the Big Ten.

With his great production, superior size and athleticism, and ability to play all three downs as a defensive end, Nelson is getting quite a few looks from NFL teams, which is pretty awesome for this young man.

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That being said, selfishly, if he decided to return back for his senior season in the Iowa football program, I wouldn’t be upset one bit. Every single offensive line on Iowa’s schedule would need to fear the pass rushing tandem of Nelson and AJ Epenesa, which could be a ton of fun to watch.

Either way, congratulations Anthony Nelson on another terrific game!