Following a significant leg injury sustained against the University of South Florida, Scott Nelson will be out for the remainder of the 2019 football season.
It is not yet clear the exact injury suffered by Nelson, but he did confirm his absence for the rest of the season on Twitter following the Central Michigan game.
Prior to this season-ender, Nelson looked to be a developing talent for a secondary who desperately needed to build experience coming into this season.
Football: To fuel 2019 season, Badger secondary looking for consistency
Nelson served as one of the few consistent faces for the Badger secondary last season as he started eight total games and played as a non-starter in one other.
Even as Nelson went on to have a great season in 2018 with 41 total tackles recorded, he struggled to stay healthy throughout the year. Nelson failed to play in games against Illinois, Northwestern, Rutgers and Purdue due to injury.
Every Badger fan hopes this is not history repeating itself with the loss of Nelson early in the season. In 2018, injuries were anything but few and far between for defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard’s last line of defense.
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Nelson got off to a quick start in the season even as he suffered an injury in their opening game. Even during the limited time that he played against USF, Nelson managed to acquire four solo tackles as well as a pass break-up.
Prior to the release of the tweet stating Nelson would not be returning for the rest of the season, Eric Burrell went to work as his replacement against Central Michigan.
Burrell certainly has large shoes to fill following the season-long departure of Nelson. But in early games this season he has begun to prove his mettle as much as possible given his allotted playing time up to this point.
In the short amount of time Burrell played against USF and Central Michigan, he already managed to record three solo tackles as well as an interception against USF.
Nelson will certainly be missed throughout the season as the Badgers are set to face off against higher powered offenses in the near future.
Despite this, as long as there is no repeat of last season in which multiple injuries are suffered in succession, Burrell could serve as a fine replacement for Nelson.
