Reggie Nelson

Reggie Nelson

Nelson with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2013
No. 27 Oakland Raiders
Position:	Free safety
Personal information
Date of birth:	(1983-09-21) September 21, 1983 (age 33)
Place of birth:	Melbourne, Florida
Height:	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight:	210 lb (95 kg)
Career information
High school:	Melbourne (FL) Palm Bay
College:	Florida
NFL Draft:	2007 / Round: 1 / Pick: 21
Career history
Jacksonville Jaguars (2007–2009) Cincinnati Bengals (2010–2015) Oakland Raiders (2016–present)
Roster status:	Active
Career highlights and awards
NFL 2× Pro Bowl (2015, 2016) Second-team All-Pro (2015) NFL interceptions co-leader (2015) College First-team All-SEC (2006) Consensus All-American (2006) Jack Tatum Trophy (2006) SEC Championship (2006) BCS National Championship (2006)
Career NFL statistics as of Week 17, 2016
Total tackles: 713 Sacks: 6.5 Pass Deflections: 94 Interceptions: 35 Forced fumbles: 8 Defensive Touchdowns: 1 Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR

Reggie Lee Nelson (born September 21, 1983) is an American football safety for the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Florida, where he was a member of a national championship team and earned consensus All-American honors. He was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft and has also played for the Cincinnati Bengals.

Nelson was born in Melbourne, Florida in 1983. He attended Palm Bay High School in Melbourne, and was a standout high school football player for the Palm Bay Pirates. He was teammates with Joe Cohen and Xavier Carter. Nelson was a two-time first-team All-State honoree, and helped lead Palm Bay to win Florida Class 4A state championship as a safety and return specialist in 2002. As a senior, Nelson averaged forty-five yards per punt return and 26.8 yards per kickoff return, totaling a state record 1,531 return yards. In 2007, four years after he graduated from high school, the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) named Nelson to its "All-Century Team," recognizing him as one of the thirty-three greatest Florida high school football players of the last 100 years. He was taught how to play football by Rob Robbins.

After graduating from Palm Bay High School in 2003, Nelson and Pirates teammate Joe Cohen chose to attend the University of Florida over rival Florida State University. He attended Coffeyville Community College in Coffeyville, Kansas first, red-shirting his freshman year, and then earned his associate degree and transferred to Florida as a sophomore.