Nelson Gregory Spruce (born December 5, 1992) 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 wi ...

wide receiver who is a free agent. He played college football at

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

Early years

Spruce attended Westlake High School in

Thousand Oaks, California Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, United States. It is in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles, approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown. It is named after the many oak tr ...

. He was rated a three-star recruit by both

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

and

ESPN.com ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc. History Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including ...

and committed to play college football at Colorado.

College career

After redshirting his freshman season, Spruce led the Colorado Buffaloes in receptions (44) and receiving yards (446) his freshman season and proceeded to rack up 55 catches for 650 receiving yards his sophomore season. His breakthrough year came during his junior season in 2014 when he set 31 school records as well as a Pac-12 record for receptions in a game with 19 against

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. As a senior in 2015, Spruce finished his college career by breaking the all-time Pac-12 receptions record in a game versus

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

. During his time at Colorado, Spruce set or tied 43 school or conference records.

Professional career

Los Angeles Rams

After going undrafted in the

2016 NFL Draft The 2016 NFL Draft was the 81st annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. As in 2015 NFL Draft, 2015, the draft took place at the Auditorium Theatre and Grant Park (Chicago), ...

, Spruce signed 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 ...

with the Los Angeles Rams The rookie made a big impression in his first preseason game, catching six passes for 51 yards and a touchdown to help the Rams defeat the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

28–24 in the team's first game back in Los Angeles after relocating from St. Louis. However, Spruce suffered a knee injury on the game-winning play and was out for the remainder of the preseason. Spruce made the Rams' regular season roster, but remained on the inactive list. After suffering an additional calf injury, Spruce was placed on injured reserve on November 18, 2016, ending his rookie season without making his regular season NFL debut. Spruce stayed with the Rams through the offseason program, and caught six passes against Dallas in the preseason opener, but he saw little action in the following weeks as he had to compete for a roster spot with newly arrived receivers Robert Woods, Sammy Watkins,

Cooper Kupp Cooper Douglas Kupp (born June 15, 1993) is an American football wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Eastern Washington, where he won the Walter Payton Award as a junior, ...

, and Josh Reynolds. On September 2, 2017, Spruce was waived/injured by the Rams and placed on injured reserve. He was released by the team following an injury settlement two days later.

Chicago Bears

On October 16, 2017, Spruce was signed to the Chicago Bears' practice squad.

Kansas City Chiefs

On March 30, 2018, Nelson was signed by the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The ...

. He was waived on May 8, 2018.

Los Angeles Chargers

On May 14, 2018, Spruce signed with the

Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division, and ...

. He was waived on September 1, 2018.

San Diego Fleet

On September 28, 2018, Spruce signed with the San Diego Fleet of the new Alliance of American Football. During the third week of the AAF season against the

San Antonio Commanders The San Antonio Commanders were a professional American football franchise based in San Antonio, Texas, and one of the eight members of the Alliance of American Football (AAF). The league began play in February 2019. The team played their home g ...

, Spruce caught four passes for 50 yards and two touchdowns in a 31–11 victory. Spruce had a season high 12 catches for 146 yards in week seven against the

Arizona Hotshots The Arizona Hotshots were a professional American football franchise based in Tempe, Arizona, and one of the eight members of the Alliance of American Football (AAF), which played one season from February 2019 to April 2019. They played their h ...

. The league ceased operations in April 2019. Spruce would finish fifth in the Alliance of American Football in receiving yards with 426 and second in receptions with 38.

Los Angeles Wildcats

Spruce was drafted in the 3rd round in the

2020 XFL Draft The 2020 XFL Draft was the inaugural player selection process to fill the rosters of the eight teams of the 2020 reboot of the XFL. The draft was held on October 15–16, 2019, via conference call, with results released through the XFL's social ...

by the

Los Angeles Wildcats Los Angeles Wildcats is a name shared by several American football teams from Los Angeles: *Los Angeles Wildcats (AFL) The Los Angeles Wildcats (also reported in various media as Pacific Coast Wildcats, Los Angeles Wilson Wildcats and Wilson's ...

. In his first XFL game, Spruce caught 11 passes for 103 yards. In Week 2, he had six catches for 89 yards and two touchdowns, including a 44-yard pass. By the time the 2020 XFL season was suspended due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, Spruce had only played in the first three out of a possible five games, but had caught 20 passes for 256 yards and 2 scores, and was named to both the XFL mid-season awards list, and was one of the highest rated receivers according to

Pro Football Focus Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United Sta ...

. He had his contract terminated when the league suspended operations on April 10, 2020.

Montreal Alouettes

Spruce signed with the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the East Division of the Canad ...

of the CFL on January 22, 2021 but was released on July 17, 2021.

References

External links

Los Angeles Rams profile

Colorado Buffaloes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spruce, Nelson 1992 births Living people People from Westlake Village, California Players of American football from California Sportspeople from Ventura County, California American football wide receivers Colorado Buffaloes football players Los Angeles Rams players Chicago Bears players Kansas City Chiefs players Los Angeles Chargers players Los Angeles Wildcats (XFL) players San Diego Fleet players Montreal Alouettes players