Â
BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — On the week leading up to a road game, the routine didn't change appreciably for tailback Chris James, a transfer from Pitt; or cornerback Nick Nelson, a transfer from Hawaii.
Both carried out their assignments on the scout team in preparation for the opponent. Both took pride in the role they played. Both reassured each other about their future in the program.
That was the extent of their participation through Thursday. Since they were ineligible to compete or travel, they were left behind to "wing it" when the Badgers left town.
"I hated it," Nelson said, "because I was at home eating wings when they were playing."
He wasn't alone. James was one of his roommates.
"We sat at our place and ordered some wings," James confirmed, "and wished we were there."
There in the Big Ten was East Lansing, Ann Arbor, Iowa City, Evanston and West Lafayette.
"We used to talk about it as, 'Hey, just another redshirt chronicle night,'" James said.
Like a diary, everything was recorded and filed away.
"We were part of the game plan during the week," said James, "and seeing it all unfold on Saturdays was actually pretty cool to watch. Me and Nick were in the same situation. We were like, 'Man, I think I could play right now.' But we can't. You know what I'm saying?
"That forced both of us to be in a different position. Rather than being players, it was almost like we were number one supporters since we were on the team but couldn't play. We had to understand our roles as a teammate and we had to help those guys (get ready)."
This spring, James and Nelson have been readying themselves for playing time. Nelson has stepped into the void left by the graduation of Sojourn Shelton and has been working with the first team at cornerback opposite Derrick Tindal. Meanwhile, James has been sharing turns at tailback with Bradrick Shaw as they seek to replace the productive tandem of Corey Clement and Dare Ogunbowale.
"The year off allowed me to work on my craft," James said. "I really didn't see it as a year off, since it was more of a year of work. I was watching a real good team play and, every single day in practice, I got to go against the number one defense that was doing some amazing things on Saturdays. So, it was a blessing to even take reps against those guys. I know it helped me get better as a player."
Nelson felt the same way, especially since Shelton was such a willing mentor.
"I actually still hang out a lot with Sojourn," said Nelson. "We'll still watch film together. The other day, we were watching the little stuff that he does. He's smaller, so his feet are quick. If I can apply that to my game, I can get so much better. I already feel like I got better mentally (since August). That's a big part of it, along with the weights. I got stronger and faster and learned new techniques."
Nelson has also been watching a lot of film with safety D'Cota Dixon, a team leader.
"I've been kind of talking to him about some of the things that I have been taught," Dixon said. "I've talked about having a lot more awareness as a football player, about going over the film and picking up tendencies, about knowing concepts and formations and things like that."
Dixon still remembers the impact that Nelson had on the scout team.
"When Nick was practicing, he made everything look so easy," he said. "There was a point in camp when he was undefeated as far as getting caught on. I think it was 15 straight (passes) that he didn't get caught on. For a couple of days, he was on a crazy streak. Nick is a game-changer."
Dixon also had a few run-ins on the practice field with the 5-foot-10, 216-pound James.
"I knew that he was a baller when he had to be our scout team running back last year," he said. "He gave us a really good look. And I was prepared for most of the teams that we were going against because we were going against that same type of (physical) back that he is."
Although their timelines now intersect, James, 21, and Nelson, 20, took much different paths to Madison — as different as the cultures and climates in Pittsburgh and Honolulu. "But they've definitely meshed with all the guys on the team," Dixon said. "Everybody has embraced them."
• • • •
Former UW secondary coach Daronte' Jones was Nelson's link to Wisconsin.
"He's from the same area as me," Nelson said.
Jones is from Capitol Heights, Maryland. Nelson is from Glenarden. They're five miles apart.
But the real D.C.-area connection was between Jones and Melvin Coleman, who coached the defensive backs at Suitland High School (Forestville, Maryland) in 2013. Jones and Coleman were football teammates at Morgan State. Coleman's best player at Suitland was Nelson, then a senior cornerback.
Doubling as a receiver — his 20 catches were the second most on the team — Nelson was the MVP in leading Suitland to a state runner-up finish. At midseason, while wearing a forearm-length cast to protect a fractured thumb, he picked off two passes, cradling both interceptions to his body.
Nelson, though, didn't attract much recruiting traffic. Temple initially expressed interest. North Carolina Central and North Carolina A&T offered. Jones, who was coaching the DBs at the University of Hawaii, reached out to Coleman to see if he had any prospects and Coleman put him on to Nelson.
Without visiting the Honolulu campus, Nelson verbally committed on the phone to Hawaii head coach Norm Chow. It was nearly 5,000 miles from home, but Nelson was lured by the chance to play right away. "Once I took the visit," Nelson said, "I loved it."
As a true freshman, Nelson started eight games at cornerback for Jones (who summarily left the Hawaii program in January to join Paul Chryst's first-year staff at Wisconsin). As a sophomore, Nelson started all 13 games for the Rainbow Warriors and finished with 53 tackles and 15 passes defended.
Nelson got his first taste of Big Ten football that season. Within a two-week window, Hawaii lost 38-0 at Ohio State and 28-0 at Wisconsin. Taiwan Deal, another Maryland product (Capitol Heights), rushed for 147 yards and two scores for the Badgers while Nelson had nine tackles.
(Deal was also one of Nelson's roommates last fall.)
"Playing at Ohio State and playing here gave me confidence that I could play against anybody," said Nelson, who was definitely impressed by "Jump Around" and the night-game atmosphere at Camp Randall Stadium. "That spring, I felt like I was ready to be closer to home."
It made it easier for Nelson to transfer given that Jones had moved on and Chow was fired after the 10th game of the 2015 season. As it turned out, Jones stayed on the move. After one season at Wisconsin, he departed for the National Football League and an assistant's job with the Miami Dolphins.
At first, Nelson wasn't familiar with Jones' replacement as the UW secondary coach.
But it didn't take him long to find out all that he needed to know.
"Once they told me who Coach (Jim) Leonhard was, I said, 'I'm going to Wisconsin,'" recalled Nelson, who deferred to his dad for the background check on Leonhard, a 10-year NFL vet. "My dad was telling me, 'It's Jim Leonhard. He played with Darrelle Revis.' I said, 'OK, I need to be around him.'"
Nelson has already profited from Leonhard's knowledge and coaching approach.
"He's just so smart," Nelson said. "The thing I like the most about Coach Leonhard is that he coaches you based off your build. If you're a guy who's built like Revis (5-11, 198), he'll let you watch tape on Revis. If you're a bigger guy like Richard Sherman (6-3, 205), he'll let you watch Sherman."
The 5-11, 207-pound Nelson is a fan of Revis and Marcus Peters (6-0, 196).
Besides Shelton, he's also a big fan of Tindal, who has 20 career starts for the Badgers. "We clicked when I first came on my visit in the spring," Nelson said. "I'd seen his dancing videos on Instagram. I introduced myself to him and ever since then we've become cool."
Nelson, for now, has been concentrating on cleaning up his techniques. "I'm still learning and I'm still getting out of my comfort zone — mixing it up against a small receiver or a bigger receiver," he said. "The best advice Sojourn has given me is, 'Stay focused.' That's the main thing."
• • • •
James admitted that he wasn't sure how he would be received by his new UW teammates.
"When I first came here, I was kind of nervous," he said. "I was thinking, 'Here you are; you're not a freshman, but you're also the new guy on the team.' I was trying to figure out, I guess, my social status. The first day I came into the weight room, guys were screaming and throwing weights around."
A smile broke across his face.
"I thought, 'Aw, man, I'm going to fit in perfectly,'" James said. "These guys work hard and that's exactly what I wanted. After the first couple of days, they saw how hard I was working and everything clicked. For me, seeing their work ethic, it made me think, 'These are the guys I want to be around.'"
James has always been a weight-room warrior. Before his senior year of high school — Notre Dame Prep in Niles, Illinois — he posted a workout video that went viral with millions of views. After rushing for 4,220 yards and 53 touchdowns as a three-year starter, James showed up on many recruiting lists.
Seven Big Ten schools offered scholarships, including Michigan State, Iowa and Wisconsin. But it became a numbers game with the Badgers, who veered in another direction, and James wound up being a member of Chryst's second recruiting class at Pittsburgh.
As a true freshman, James was the complementary piece to James Connor, who earned first-team All-America honors after rushing 298 times for 1,765 yards and 26 TDs. Appearing in all 13 games, James had 87 carries for 437 yards and four scores. His top effort was 122 yards against Syracuse.
Everything changed at Pitt in 2015. Chryst returned to Madison as the UW head coach. Replacing him was Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi. Conner injured his knee in the season opener and was sidelined for the year. He was later diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
On the Panthers depth chart, James was an afterthought (53 rushes for 253 yards).
Confidence had become an issue. But he felt rejuvenated after transferring to Wisconsin.
"When I got the opportunity to come here, I couldn't say no," said James, who was reunited not only with Chryst, but running backs coach John Settle and offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph. "It's all the guys that recruited me and knew me since I was 17 years old. They're just wearing red now."
His confidence is coming back. During last Friday's practice, James caught a pass in the flat and made the cornerback miss in the open field to tack on extra yardage. The corner was Nelson, who had an interception during the scrimmage. Both transfers should be impactful additions in 2017.
"I'm trying to minimize mistakes … I'm just trying to polish my skills," said James. "I'm taking it day by day, whether it's trying to get that little edge, whether it's trying to stay a little later after practice, whether it's trying to learn the playbook a little more, because it's the mental aspect now."
By design, he's not getting ahead of himself. "That's what the coaches have taught me, that's how my grandmother has raised me," said James, who was raised by Audrey Davis after his mom died from complications during surgery when he was 4. "I can't worry about the season right now."
Instead, he's just concerned about the next practice. And, then, the one after that.
James credited his mindset to watching Clement and Ogunbowale interact. "I just loved how those guys really worked off each other," he said. "They pushed each other every single day. It was cool to watch them do their thing. I'm not going to lie, I learned a lot from them."
And now, he has got the best of both worlds.
"I'm much closer to home," James said, "so my family can come out and see me."
He has three siblings, not to mention all those brothers-in-arms, including Nelson.
"Plus," James enthused, "I'm around a great group of guys who love to work hard."
