Remember Philip Nelson?
The former Gophers quarterback by way of Mankato West High School is now the starting QB for the San Diego Fleet of the Alliance of American Football, and on Sunday he completed one of the oddest passes you’ll ever see.
“I hope I don’t get cut,” said Nelson when asked about the play, via the AAF’s website. “I was trying to throw that ball away. When I heard, ‘Pass completed,’ I was like, ‘OK, thank you, God. Next play.'”
#Fleet QB Philip Nelson on throwing the backward pass, “I hope I don’t get cut!”#aafFLEET #aaf pic.twitter.com/pgYMEDPhBQ
— Fernando Ramirez (@RealFRamirez) February 18, 2019
Nelson has completed just 19-of-40 passes through two games, so who’s to say not looking is the answer to a higher completion percentage? We joke, but head coach Mike Martz wasn’t when asked about the play after the game.
“Yeah, we’re going to talk about that. We’re going to have a long discussion about that,” said Martz, who was an assistant with the Gophers in 1982 and later led the St. Louis Rams to a Super Bowl win.
Part of Nelson’s low completion percentage can be blamed on the pouring rain he played in Sunday, although he said it wasn’t that bad from he he’s experienced growing up in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
“I’m from Wisconsin and a couple of weeks ago it was minus-50 with the wind chill, so I’m not complaining,” he said.
Nelson was born in Madison, Wisconsin before moving to Minnesota where he won the 2011 Mr. Football award as the top senior player in the state.
Nelson started 19 games for the Gophers in 2012-13 before transferring to Rutgers. But Rutgers quickly dismissed him from the team after Nelson was involved in a fight that left former Minnesota State-Mankato football player Isaac Kolstad with severe brain injuries.
Nelson pleaded guilty to misdemeanor fifth-degree assault and avoided jail time, later continuing his football career at East Carolina in 2015-16.
