Triad senior star running back has made a career out of proving people wrong

After relocating to Texas for a year because of his father’s job, Adam Nelson returned to Triad High School for his sophomore year.

He wasn’t quite sure what to expect.

“I knew that I was going to have to prove myself since I didn’t play freshman year there and they didn’t know who I was,” said Nelson, although he attended grade school in the Triad district. “I basically picked whatever position they needed, so I started out as a D-back and tried to work my way into playing running back. That’s really where I wanted to be.”

It didn’t take long for Triad coach Paul Bassler to notice Nelson, who found his way into the backfield early in his sophomore year and promptly began his journey toward breaking numerous school rushing records.

Voted the Belleville News-Democrat Large-School Football Co-Player of the Year by area coaches, Nelson finished his career as Triad’s all-time leading rusher with 3,386 yards. He averaged more than 10 yards per carry for his career, an almost unheard of feat, and this season ran for 1,630 yards on 161 carries while scoring 30 touchdowns.

He finished his career with 52 TDs.

Teams knew he was coming thanks to Triad’s ground-based option attack and still had trouble dealing with him.

“It was always fun scoring and I knew going into most games that people were going to try to stop me,” Nelson said. “It was a testament to my line and all my coaches that they weren’t able to stop me - even though they knew I was going to get the ball.”

SPEED AND POWER COMBINED

Finding him wasn’t tough, it was catching him that proved difficult for most defenses.

“I knew that he was fast, I had seen him at the lower levels,” Triad coach Paul Bassler said.

But Bassler didn’t count on the type of game-breaking speed he saw Bassler demonstrate while returning a kickoff for a touchdown early in his sophomore year.

“All of a sudden he was gone. I just remember him running past me thinking ‘Lord, what do we have here,’’’ said Bassler, who had trouble concentrating since his assistant coaches were screaming the same thing in his headset. “They were yelling ‘We need to get him the ball, get him more touches.’ “It didn’t take long for me to realize that he was very special.”’

Bassler listened and the 5-foot-9, 180-pound Nelson got his wish. Nelson was playing running back and suddenly 100-yard rushing games became fairly routine and 200-yarders came fairly often as well, especially this season.

“I’ve got to give it all up to my coaches and my O-line, they did it all for me,” Nelson said. “Especially this year, for sure. I was working really hard because I was going for the record and I wanted to be part of Triad history.”

Speed has always been a big part of Nelson’s game. He has been clocked at 4.36 seconds in the 40-yard dash and reached the Class 2A state track finals the past two seasons in the 100-meter run. He finished sixth last season.

His personal best in the 100 is 10.82 seconds, but Nelson said “I’m about to destroy that this year. I can guarantee that.”

LEAVING A LEGACY

Nelson broke the Triad rushing records held previously by Shane McBride, a former News-Democrat Player of the Year and one of the top players in school history.

“His speed started everything off for him, but he really worked hard in the weight room and transformed himself into a really complete back,” Bassler said of Nelson, who rarely went down when hit by the first defender. “He could break tackles, make people miss and with his speed he could separate from people. You’d see it on film, defenders would take an angle on him and then he’d take off and was gone.”

Bassler said that late gear-shifting ability and elusiveness were what sets Nelson apart from most other running backs.

“He just had that extra gear,” said Bassler, who said Nelson is as good of a running back as he’s coached in 18 years at Triad. “If I had an all-time backfield, he would be in it.”

When it comes to recruiting, Nelson knows his size is working against him. He’s received the most interest from Division II Missouri S& T and Quincy along with McKendree. Southeast Missouri State has showed interest as well as Eastern Illinois, but those situations could be as a preferred walk-on.

“I proved it in high school that it works,” Nelson said of his combination of size and speed. “Some people are definitely interested in me, but (my size) has turned a few people away.”

Just as he proved himself at Triad, Nelson is ready to do it again at the college level.

“I like proving people wrong and maybe my size isn’t intimidating, but you should be intimidated by other things,” Nelson said. “I don’t mind having to prove myself, it gives me a reason to work harder. I can handle it.”

Bassler is hoping Nelson gets an opportunity at the highest level possible.

“If someone gives him a shot, does he want to take a chance of walking on somewhere and making everyone pay?” Bassler said. “I think he could explode at that I-AA level, especially with all these spread offenses, the jet sweeps and zone reads, all that stuff.

“He’s been born and blessed with a lot of speed.”

Nelson is also glad he got to experience the crazy intensity of Texas high school football.

“It was different, definitely more intense as a football scene and training-wise,” Nelson said. “It was crazy. It’s definitely everything that everybody talks about. It just got me how serious people take football; even with scrimmages there would be tons of people in the stands.”

This story was originally published December 17, 2015 at 7:35 PM with the headline "Triad senior star running back has made a career out of proving people wrong."