Nov. 9, 2005

Marco Nelson: You Just Have To Believe

As a kid who grew up in the great outdoors of the Great Northwest, Marco Nelson made one of life's most important discoveries seated under the roof of his house, in front of the TV more than a thousand miles away.

Born in Washington and reared in Idaho and Oregon, Nelson had spent a childhood exploring land once charted by Lewis & Clark - usually while riding his horses and motorcycles, when he wasn't slowing down to cast a fishing line.

Back then, if there were sports of choice they were soccer and baseball, though neither stirred a passion within. At least, not like the game he learned to love only after a move to a much different part of the country, in a much different state of being.

It was as a teenager - about a year after his mother, Alexandra Kuolt, moved four of her children from Milwaukee, Ore. to the Phoenix area - when Nelson finally sat still long enough to come to a realization that would help change his life.

And yes, all while viewing what most of the time truly proves to be a vast wasteland. Except, for Nelson, on those Thursday nights when he first got a glimpse of that dynamic lefty from Virginia Tech whose on-field bravado often seemed to transcend his sport.

"I never really watched football on TV because I was always doing something outside," Nelson says of his before-and-after experience in Scottsdale, Ariz. "But then around my sophomore year of high school I started watching college football.

"They'd always have those Virginia Tech games on Thursday nights and I'd always watch Michael Vick. I just love watching anybody who's the best at what he does, and he was just so athletic and so good, he was fun to watch."

So good, in fact, Nelson often rewound the remarkable Vick on video, recording the quarterback's exploits on the VHS tapes likely still hanging around the house back in Arizona.

And so good, whether watching live or on replay, Nelson reached a decision on his life's direction. He wanted to be like you-know-who.

"That's pretty much when I started getting serious about playing college football," Nelson said recently, after watching Vick's Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football and six games into the final season of his own collegiate career.

Of course, Nelson wasn't quite a "supersonic" talent, as Vick's been described by his pro coach, Jim Mora. Nor did he meet the specs of your average Division I player, not at 5-foot-7, sub-180 pounds.

Yet, when Navy assistant Todd Spencer scouted Nelson in the spring of his junior year at Chaparral High, he saw a back perfectly suited for a position unique to the Navy offense.

"Marco had good hands, hips and feet," Spencer remembers. "His coach told me that Marco was a legitimate four-five guy."

In other words, Nelson was fast enough to eclipse 40 yards in 4.5 seconds. And in Spencer's words, "I thought he was an ideal Navy 'A' back."

Whereas others might find Nelson too small to succeed at college football's highest level, Spencer foresaw him running, receiving and blocking from a position in the slot or on the wing.

As for Nelson, not until a first-hand look at Annapolis could he see himself at a service academy.

"I was kind of negative towards it," says Nelson, punctuating his words with a chuckle. "I didn't really know about the Navy or the Naval Academy. I never heard of it before I got recruited. I guess in Arizona nobody talks about the Navy.

At the time, he thought of studying somewhere in California. Or maybe the Ivy League.

But Spencer - who admits to being "jazzed up" on the recruiting trail - was enthusiastic enough to convince Nelson to visit the Academy. In short time, he was included among the Mids' first class of recruits for head coach Paul Johnson and his staff.

Football aside, that Nelson was bound for one of the nation's most prestigious institutions was in itself one of those only-in-America stories.

Hardly a child of privilege, he was the son of parents whose marriage ended in divorce. And while Nelson's father, Robin, as well as an older brother and sister remained in Oregon, the rest of the family headed toward the Valley of the Sun.

At 15 and as a freshman in high school, Nelson not only had to adjust to foreign surroundings, he had to assume a new role within his own home. With Alexandra working - a receptionist for her brother's business - it was up to Marco to be a guiding light for his younger brothers and a sister.

"That's when I had to, pretty much, be the man of the house," he says.

Younger brother Kyrion, an 18-year-old high school senior, recently described what Marco meant to the family to reporter Jon Gallo of The Washington Post.

"Even to this day, when I do something wrong, like do bad on a test, Marco will be the one who decides what the punishment will be," Kyrion Nelson said. "He's still like a father to me and the person who always set the example growing up."

Which included opening a previously hidden door to higher education.

"I think I helped my family to look toward that next step," Nelson said. "In the house growing up, there was really never any talk about going to college. Now, (Kyrion) is just trying to figure out where he's going to college."

And still listening to the wisdom of his big brother, who's shouldered a weighty burden since before he had a driver's license, yet seems to take it all in stride. Usually laughing along the way.

"I'm more of an easygoing guy," says Nelson of his ability to deflate any pressure associated with being a student, officer-to-be and Division I athlete. "I don't really get stressed out about it.

"I don't see why you'd get so upset about a test when there are people starving or dying. Or, like in a football game, if I drop a ball or miss a block. Hopefully, next time I'll do better.

"We're in a good place right here," he continues. "There's no reason getting so upset about something, which in the big picture, doesn't really matter."

This penchant to laugh rather than fret isn't lost on teammates, who appreciate the humor in a line that loosens up the locker room or the spark ignited by Nelson's spunk on the field.

"(Marco's) a great guy, a fun guy to be around," says fullback Matt Hall. "He has a lot of energy that everybody kind of feeds off. I look to him a lot for that."

Hall's also come to expect something else.

"He's a playmaker," he says. "You can always count on Marco when we need a big play."

Combining an unflappable wit with his physical talent - including what Spencer describes as the great "top speed" - Nelson has assembled a rather lengthy assortment of highlights.

None more exciting or important than at Air Force last year, when Navy faced a 3rd-and-19 from deep in its own end, in a fourth-quarter tie. Suddenly, Nelson streaked out of nowhere and reeled in a 66-yard pass that keyed the Mids win over the Falcons.

Then there was an unprecedented trifecta this season, scoring by way of a run, reception and fumble return against Stanford. The last of those touchdowns requiring Nelson to race downfield on a punt, retrieve a Cardinal fumble and run it 19 yards into the end zone.

But the emotion that evening explains more about Nelson's importance to Navy's success than any single play. Sure, he'd recorded a college football first - with his mother and other family on hand no less. Still, the Mids lost by three.

"That (Stanford) was a bad game for me emotionally," Nelson says. "I didn't know what to feel like, emotionally. That was just a tough game overall.

"You always wish you could do that extra bit to help your team win. For our team as a whole, it's more about the rest of the people on the team. We're not trying to go the NFL, we just want to win and make everybody happy. It's no fun celebrating when you're by yourself."

Of course, a month later he had plenty of company in savoring another victory over Air Force, including his father and the Oregon side of the Nelson family.

Just another milestone for a senior who'd gone from back-to-back state titles in high school to back-to-back bowl games with Navy.

And in between, made yet another great discovery.

"My freshman year was probably the worst single year of my life," Nelson says of his experience as an Academy plebe, an existence made more challenging by a broken ankle that kept him from a true love. "I so upset that I wouldn't be able to play football the entire year.

"(I learned) when you're down like that, don't give up. For me, I'm just glad I didn't give up. Big doors have opened up for me. You just (have to) keep pushing, keep working at it."

And, he stresses, keep believing. Whether a high school kid just looking for a chance to prove himself or a collegian trying to turn tough times around.

"I'm pretty religious, though I'm not one of those guys who shows it on the outside a whole lot. My whole family is," Nelson said. "I just put faith in the Lord and figured an opportunity would open up for me."

When it did, he firmly seized it. And hasn't let go since.

"You're the type of player you think you are," Nelson says of the irrelevance he sees in comparing the physical gifts of one to those of another. "Obviously, there are guys with better athletic ability. But there are some guys who are less athletic yet have bigger hearts. I just thank the Lord that I got in the situation I did, being smaller."

And though Nelson must field the same, recycled questions about his stature in the Division I game - often a tiresome task - what never gets old is the thought of inspiring someone else.

Especially if it's a smaller someone else. One who sees Marco Nelson the way he once looked at Michael Vick.

"That's just awesome to me," Nelson says. "You can do whatever you want to do, just have faith."