Stanford-Oregon means tough week for Nelson family Stanford-Oregon means tough week for Nelson family (October 22, 2004)

by Rick Eymer

Darrin Nelson will assume his normal spot on the field in the end zone this Saturday to watch Stanford take on visiting Oregon at 2 p.m. It may not be an ordinary game for him though.

Nelson, who serves as a Senior Associate Athletic Director at Stanford, will be openly rooting for the Cardinal to continue their winning ways. He'll also be secretly hoping that one Oregon player in particular, his 20-year-old son J.D. Nelson, has a good game.

"For the Nelson family it's a difficult week," said Darrin Nelson. "Mom (H. Camilla) is a Duck fan but dad is still here at Stanford. It's tough for me because I want Stanford to reach their goals and one of them is to beat Oregon. I'll root for J.D. but I don't want Oregon to beat Stanford."

Darrin Nelson, of course, is one of Stanford's most revered football players. His first two seasons on The Farm coincided with Bill Walsh's first years as a head coach, in which he revolutionized the running back position as part of his innovative offense, which became known as the West Coast Offense in later years.

Nelson became the first player in college football history to rush for more than 1,000 yards and catch more than 50 passes in a season. He did it three times in his four years. He was the precursor to the way Walsh used Roger Craig with the San Francisco 49ers.

Nelson became Stanford's main weapon in leading the Cardinal to successful appearances in the 1977 Sun Bowl and the 1978 Bluebonnet Bowl. Walsh left to coach the 49ers, while Nelson stayed to become Stanford's all-time leading rusher with 4,033 yards, 1,093 yards more than Brad Muster, the number two man on the list.

Nelson was also Stanford's all-time leading receiver with 214 receptions when he left Stanford after the 1981 season to join the NFL, where he enjoyed an 11-year career. Troy Walters and DeRonnie Pitts have both since passed Nelson.

J.D. (Jordan Darrin) Nelson is paving his own way with the Ducks after a brilliant high school career at Mountain View High. The younger Nelson, a redshirt sophomore at Oregon, rushed for over 1,200 yards at Mountain View.

At Oregon, Nelson has become one of the team's top defensive players. He's third on the team with 32 tackles, and was named as one of the team captains for Saturday's game.

"There's three key things that go through my head every day," he told the Oregonian. "Make tackles. Know what everybody is doing. And always play hard."

It's the kind of attitude that has endured him to the coaching staff.

"J.D. has done a great job," Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said. "He's a play maker in the secondary and is sort of a coach back there. He's an aggressive young man who enjoys playing football."

After redshirting the 2002 season, Nelson made an immediate impact playing on special teams last year. During spring ball, he earned the starting job at free safety.

"I want to be a reliable guy in pass coverage," he told the Portland Tribune. "If I lack anything, it's upper body strength, which I need to tackle the big backs we're going to face this year."

Football has always been a part of his life, as he watched his father's professional career unfold.

"He learned how to walk on a football field," Darrin Nelson said. "He had no choice. We always talked about playing football, and I always wanted him to do his own thing. It's his college experience, it's something he can create for himself."

The weekend should be busy for the Nelson family. It's the first chance for many of J.D.'s relatives to watch him play in several years.

"It's a special day for all the uncles and aunts and friends," Darrin said. "I've been up to Oregon to watch him play. He'll have a lot of friends at the game. It's been a bit of a distraction trying to set up tickets and things like that."

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