Arvell Nelson (born September 27, 1988) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

. He was signed by the

Alabama Hammers The Alabama Hammers were a professional indoor football team based in Huntsville, Alabama. The team played in the Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL) from 2012 to 2015. The Hammers originally began play as an expansion team in the Southern ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2012. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

, before transferring to

Fort Scott Community College Fort Scott Community College is a community college in Fort Scott, Kansas, United States. It has satellite buildings in other cities in Crawford County, including Pittsburg and Frontenac, along with sites in Paola and at the Hillsdale Learning ...

and

Texas Southern University Texas Southern University (Texas Southern or TSU) is a public historically black university in Houston, Texas. The university is one of the largest and most comprehensive historically black college or universities in the USA with nearly 10,000 ...

Early life

Nelson attended

Glenville High School Glenville High School is a public high school in the Glenville area on the East Side of Cleveland, Ohio. The school is part of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. The school originally resided at the former Oliver Wendell Holmes school ( ...

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, where he was a quarterback for the Tarblooders football team. Nelson's quarterback play landed him scholarship opportunities at

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

and

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

College career

Iowa

Nelson choose to commit to the

, where he redshirted during his freshman season. As a redshirt freshman in 2007, Nelson was given the opportunity to compete with Jake Christensen for the Hawkeyes starting quarterback spot, but Christensen won, and Nelson was named the team's backup quarterback. Nelson saw his first college playing time in the Hawkeyes second game of the season, a 35–0 victory over Syracuse. Nelson completed his only pass attempt for 12 yards. Nelson would later be moved to wide receiver, losing the backup quarterback position to

Ricky Stanzi Richard Joseph Stanzi (born September 3, 1987) is a former American football quarterback. He was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the fifth round of the 2011 NFL Draft. He played college football at the University of Iowa. Early years Born a ...

. Nelson was dismissed from the Hawkeyes football team by head coach

Kirk Ferentz Kirk James Ferentz (born August 1, 1955) is an American football coach. He is the current head football coach at the University of Iowa, a position he has held since the 1999 season. From 1990 to 1992, Ferentz was the head football coach at the ...

Fort Scott

In 2008, Nelson enrolled at

, where he joined the football team as a

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

. Nelson also saw time playing quarterback, but his play at safety lead him to being named second team All-

Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference The Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC) is a college athletic conference that is a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). As of 2007, the KJCCC was home to more than 3,000 student-athletes in the 19 me ...

Texas Southern

Nelson choose to enroll at

in 2009, where he was named the starting quarterback for the Tigers. Nelson was named the

Southwestern Athletic Conference The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is a collegiate athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which is made up of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southern United States. It participates in t ...

Newcomer of the Year after finishing second in the conference in passing yards and passing touchdowns. In 2010, Nelson returned as the starter for the Tigers, and lead them to a west division title. Nelson however missing the

SWAC Championship Game The SWAC Championship Game, officially the Cricket Wireless SWAC Championship Game, is an American college football game that is held annually on the first Saturday in December by the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) to determine its foot ...

due to an NCAA violation. The Tigers ended up winning the SWAC Championship Game without Nelson, The NCAA later revoked the teams championship due to a major sports violation.

Professional career

Nelson was rated the 51st best quarterback in the

2011 NFL Draft The 2011 NFL Draft was the 76th installment of the annual NFL Draft, where the franchises of the National Football League select newly eligible football players. Like the 2010 draft, the 2011 draft was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York C ...

by NFLDraftScout.com.

Alabama Hammers

After going undrafted in the

, Nelson signed with the

of the

Professional Indoor Football League The Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL) was a professional indoor football league that played four seasons from 2012 to 2015. Like the Lone Star Football League, the PIFL was mainly composed of teams formerly part of Southern Indoor Foot ...

(PIFL). Nelson was named the team's starting quarterback for the first eight games of the season, before being replaced by Tony Colston.

Spokane Shock

Nelson was assigned to the

Spokane Shock The Spokane Shock were a professional indoor American football team based in Spokane, Washington, that played their home games at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. The team was initially a member of arenafootball2 (af2), the Shock won divisio ...

of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

(AFL) on November 8, 2012. Nelson was brought in to compete for playing time at quarterback, with former Shocker starter

Kyle Rowley Kyle Rowley (born January 30, 1979) is an arena football quarterback who is currently a free agent. He also played in the former af2. He played college football at Brown. Rowley was the first quarterback to win an AFL ArenaBowl and af2 ArenaCup ...

departing for the

Orlando Predators The Orlando Predators were a professional arena football team based in Orlando, Florida and member of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team was most recently owned by Orlando Predators LLC, a company owned by David A. Siegel, and played its ...

. Nelson made the team as a backup to

Erik Meyer Erik Meyer (born December 28, 1982) is a former professional American football quarterback. He was signed by the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent in 2006. He played college football at Eastern Washington. He was also a member of th ...

. Nelson lined up at a multitude of positions for the Shock, making his debut as a quarterback, only to run the football. It wasn't until the Shock's Week 11 game against the

San Jose SaberCats The San Jose SaberCats were a professional arena football team based in San Jose, California. The SaberCats had been members of the Arena Football League (AFL) since 1995 (the year in which the team was founded); and until 2015, they belonged to ...

when Nelson attempted his first pass. Nelson finished the season with 5 touchdown passes on 16-of-20 attempts, while also getting 6 rushing touchdowns, and 4 receiving touchdowns. The Shock picked up their rookie option on Nelson in September 2013.

Pittsburgh Power

On October 3, 2013, the Shock traded Nelson and

Ben Ossai Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett or Benson, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben (in he, בֶּן, ''son of'') forms part of Hebrew surnames, e.g. Abraham ben Abraham ( h ...

for

Pittsburgh Power The Pittsburgh Power were a professional arena football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The team belonged to the East Division of the American Conference (AC) in the Arena Football League (AFL). Founded in 2011, the Power ...

wide receiver

Mike Washington Mike Washington (January 7, 1953 – December 27, 2021) was an American former professional football player who played in 9 NFL seasons from 1976–1984 for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Born in Montgomery, Alabama, Washington was an All-American ...

. The Power folded in November 2014.

Spokane Shock

On January 5, 2015, Nelson was reassigned to the Shock. After spending the first 12 weeks of the season on the refused to report list, Nelson was activated on June 16, 2015.

Cleveland Gladiators

In March 2016, Nelson was assigned to the

Cleveland Gladiators The Cleveland Gladiators were an arena football team based in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, and members of the Arena Football League (AFL). The Gladiators played their home games at Quicken Loans Arena, which they shared with the Cleveland Cava ...

. He began the season at jack linebacker for the Gladiators but became the starting quarterback after injuries to Chris Dieker and

Dennis Havrilla Dennis Havrilla (born August 24, 1987) is an American football quarterback who is currently a free agent. He signed as an undrafted free agent with the Arizona Adrenaline of the Indoor Football League (IFL) in 2011. He played college football at ...

. He made his first start at quarterback for the team on April 29, 2016 after Havrilla was injured, throwing for 332 yards and six touchdowns in a 76–56 loss to the

. Nelson threw for 3,425 yards and 70 touchdowns in 2016. On March 25, 2017, Nelson was placed on recallable reassignment. Nelson was assigned to the Gladiators on April 12, 2017. Nelson made his first start of the season for the Gladiators on April 22, 2017. Nelson was the third different starting quarterback the Gladiators had used in three games.

Richmond Roughriders

Nelson signed with the

Richmond Roughriders Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a ...

of the

American Arena League The American Arena League (AAL) is a professional indoor football minor league that began playing in 2018. The league was initiated by a merger between Arena Pro Football (APF) and the Can-Am Indoor Football League (Can-Am), although the AAL o ...

in April 2018.

Washington Valor

Nelson was assigned to the

Washington Valor The Washington Valor were a professional arena football team based in Washington, D.C. that played in the Arena Football League (AFL) from 2017 to 2019. The team's home arena was the Capital One Arena. The Valor were owned by Monumental Sports an ...

on May 29, 2018. He led the Valor to a 69–55 victory in

ArenaBowl XXXI ArenaBowl XXXI was the championship game of the 2018 Arena Football League season. The game was broadcast on CBS Sports Network, AFLNow and Twitter. It featured the fourth-seeded Washington Valor and the second-seeded Baltimore Brigade at the Ro ...

and was named the ArenaBowl Most Valuable Player.

AFL statistics

''Stats from ArenaFan'':

References

External links

Arena Football League bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Arvell 1988 births Living people American football quarterbacks American football linebackers American football safeties Iowa Hawkeyes football players Fort Scott Greyhounds football players Texas Southern Tigers football players Alabama Hammers players Spokane Shock players Pittsburgh Power players Cleveland Gladiators players American Arena League players Washington Valor players Players of American football from Cleveland