Senior fullback for Navy. 2020: 645 rushing yards, 8 rushing TD.
5′9″ · 213 lb · Baton Rouge, LA
The story
4 fullback for Navy. 2020: 645 rushing yards, 8 rushing TD.
The record fills in as he plays.
His career, year by yearNelson Smith
He has spent four seasons in the Navy backfield. The receipt: 157 rush yds, 2 rush TD against East Carolina — Week 7, 2020.
Low coverage — composed from the verified record.
How it ended
Four seasons at Navy, 1,639 rushing yards — his college career is complete.
Career arc
Coaching lineage · 2017–2020
1 coachPlayed his entire career under Ken Niumatalolo.
Season context · Team result + system
4 seasons under Ken Niumatalolo — 24-25 over that span.
Where this profile ranks vs the FB cohort
Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles
Elite: rush tds (87th percentile). Strength: carries (82nd percentile).
Real play-by-play efficiency
Season trend
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).
Splits · Per-game
2020 season · 10 games
Home vs Road
| YDS/g | YPC | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home5g | 72.8 | 4.4 | 0.6 |
| Road5g | 56.2 | 4.8 | 1.0 |
First half vs Second half
| YDS/g | YPC | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-75g | 68.4 | 5.2 | 1.2 |
| Weeks 8+5g | 60.6 | 4.0 | 0.4 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Brian Newberry
Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.
Player standing · 2020
A locked-in starting job.
SIGNATURE GAME · Week 3 · 2020
W 27–24
at Tulane
Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|
The plays that mattered most
Game log · Week-by-week
2020 season · 10 games
| Wk | Opp | CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | LONG | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 3-55vs BYU | 5 | 18 | 3.6 | 0 | 7 | |
| Wk 3 | W 27-24@ Tulane | 6 | 22 | 3.7 | 2 | 7 | |
| Wk 5 | L 7-40@ Air Force | 7 | 25 | 3.6 | 0 | 10 | |
| Wk 6 | W 31-29vs Temple | 20 | 120 | 6.0 | 2 | 26 | |
| Wk 7 | W 27-23@ East Carolina | 17 | 157 | 9.2 | 2 | 32 | Season-high 157 yds |
| Wk 8 | L 21-37vs Houston | 11 | 51 | 4.6 | 0 | 21 | |
| Wk 9 | L 37-51@ SMU | 10 | 54 | 5.4 | 1 | 28 | |
| Wk 13 | L 7-10vs Memphis | 29 | 142 | 4.9 | 1 | 22 | |
| Wk 14 | L 6-19vs Tulsa | 12 | 33 | 2.8 | 0 | 6 | |
| Wk 15 | L 0-15@ Army | 11 | 23 | 2.1 | 0 | 6 | |
| Total | 128 | 645 | 4.6 | 8 | 32 |
Player DNA
Final Heisman position · 2020
Nelson Smith finished 60th in our Heisman model, with a 0% chance of a finalist trip.