SE: Q&A With K-State HOF Inductee Jordy Nelson

Jordy Nelson, the only wide receiver in Kansas State history to earn Consensus All-American honors, has returned to the Manhattan-Riley County area following a decorated NFL career, and will be on hand this weekend when he is inducted into the Kansas State Athletics Hall of Fame.

A walk-on from nearby Riley, Nelson switched from safety to wide receiver early in his career and established all-time K-State records with 122 catches for 1,606 yards during the 2007 season. A second-round draft choice by the Green Bay Packers in the 2008 NFL Draft, Nelson scored a touchdown in Super Bowl XLV, set the Packers' single-season receiving record in 2014 and earned his first Pro Bowl selection. He later earned NFL's Comeback Player of the Year in 2016 after he suffered a season-ending injury during the 2015 season. Nelson retired in 2019 after recording more than 600 receptions, nearly 8,600 yards, and setting eight Packers franchise records over an 11-year career. Nelson entered K-State football's Ring of Honor in 2015.

D. Scott Fritchen of K-State Sports Extra spoke with Nelson ahead of his induction into K-State for his Hall of Fame induction:

DSF: What has Jordy Nelson been up to since NFL retirement?

JN: Since retiring, we've moved back to Riley County, built a house, got our kids enrolled in Riley County, and I've been working on the farm, helping my brother work on a farm, and helping my father work on a farm. So, basically, I've been farming, golfing, and going to tailgates and K-State football games. Farming is the foundation of it all. Farming teaches the core values of hard work, taking pride in what you do, taking responsibility in what you do, and a little bit of teamwork as well. Obviously, it's not just on person on the farm, it's our whole family, and everyone relying on one another to do their part, and to do it to the best of their ability and correctly. That's how we're able to be productive and make a living.

Coming back to work on the farm was always the plan. I just wanted our kids to grow up in rural Kansas and work on the farm and understand the importance of farming a little bit. We love it. I haven't second guessed being back in Kansas one bit. We enjoy being back home and living a slower-paced life, which is awesome coming off all the travel and busyness of an NFL career. It was the plan for our kids to be around their grandparents. I definitely enjoy Riley County and the smaller-school aspect. It's been great. We've enjoyed every second of it.

DSF: What's your sense of pride in being from Kansas and what makes the state of Kansas a special place?

JN: A lot of people take a lot of pride in being from Kansas and being successful in whatever they're doing, not just sports, but any sort of business aspect. It's the midwestern personality and values. As Kansans, we've had the long road to take. We put in the extra work and the extra time to be successful. People from the state of Kansas are proud of where they come from, and they have the connection of where they come from because it's usually smaller communities. There are so many people who pour into your lives, and not just your parents, but teachers, your friends' parents, everybody, and it's such a tight-knit group, and a group effort to raise kids, and in coaching and teaching, and just being friends. You have that tight-knit community. The state of Kansas is a special, special place. People take a lot of pride in that.

DSF: Recently you organized and launched the inaugural Jordy Nelson Legends Softball Classic at Bill Snyder Family Stadium with the help of many former K-State greats from all different sports to benefit a K-State walk-on football player. What has been the response from that event?

JN: Everyone I've talked to thoroughly enjoyed the event. The legends that came back all want to come back next year, so that'll be a problem, because I want to continue bringing different people back, but the people at the game enjoyed it. We'll do it again next year, and make our tweaks and adjustments, but the more we have it the more people will find out about it and will want to be a part of it. It's such a great opportunity to meet and be around all these legends from different sports and see them in a different environment. Honestly, it was the first time back for some of the former K-State players. It's a cool opportunity. The players enjoyed being around one another whether they were former teammates or people from different sports. The time we were able to spend together Saturday and Sunday was very enjoyable. The best part of it all was that we all came together to help a worthy cause in helping someone. We expect the event to continue to grow each year.

DSF: You mention these K-State greats coming back to Manhattan. It had to feel like a big K-State family reunion, didn't it?

JN: Everyone talks about the K-State family and the current players talk about it, but I'll be the first one to admit that I do a terrible job of keeping up with people. However, the moment everyone shows up, it's like a big family. I'd never met Darnell McDonald, Aaron Lockett or Jaime Mendez. I played with Nick Leckey and Ryan Lilja, but I was a freshman when they were here, so I didn't really know them. I'd met Kevin Lockett once. But being around those guys, it felt like family. K-State always feels like a big family. It's amazing how easy the conversations come, and we talked about different things. It's like you've known each other for years. It's cool to have the big family back together.

DSF: I've heard rumors that you've put on the Little League coaching hat since you've been back in the area. How would you describe your experience in coaching?

JN: Emily and I have three children — Royal (11), Brooks (6) and Adda (4). The first thing I instill into my children at home and as a coach is work ethic and understanding the concept of putting in the effort and time to be good. It doesn't just happen. My oldest boy is in sixth grade, and I help coach his basketball team, and then I coached all my kids this summer in baseball. What I stress the most is just understanding what you're supposed to do and doing it to the best of your ability. I explain to kids and parents all the time that I don't care if your kid is the best kid in the state or the worst kid in the state, I expect them to know what they're supposed to do, and how they're supposed to do it, and that they do it to the best of their ability. That's all that I ask. If they can do that we'll be in great shape, and if they can't then we'll have issues. I keep it cut-and-dry, and I think everyone has been accepting of my philosophy so far. I enjoy it.

I get a lot of excitement out of seeing somebody who might not be gifted, but who puts in a lot of work, and improves from day one to the end of the season. That's the fun part, seeing their improvement and seeing them better understand the game. It's a lot of hard work, and it's a lot of time, but when you put in the time and effort you hope the kids reap the rewards. It's neat seeing that.

DSF: You had a multitude of athletic success early in your life but were one of those Kansas kids who was overlooked in recruiting. You did exactly what you preach to kids today: You focused on improvement and helping the team in any way possible. Ultimately, your hard work and talents culminated in a highly successful NFL career. How would you best summarize the Jordy Nelson story?

JN: I think a lot of people would say it's a dream come true, but to me, I don't know if I ever dreamed that much. To me, I always took it one day at a time and one year at a time, whether it was walking on at K-State as a safety, and then moving to wide receiver, and working hard and letting my career as a wide receiver snowball year after year. It was the same thing in the NFL. I just wanted people to know I was there, and I hoped that they'd allow me to come back the next day. I don't really like talking about myself. I don't know how I'd describe it. To me, I did what I was asked to do to the best of my ability and watched where it went.

Part of my big thing was I didn't want to have any 'what ifs.' I could've taken the scholarship to Washburn or Emporia State and been successful, but in the back of my mind, I would've always wondered what I could've done at K-State. It poured over into the weight room and in practice and film study and rehabbing from injuries. I did my part, and I did all the legwork behind the scenes to make sure I was prepared to go out and be as successful as I possibly could. If I wasn't successful, it wasn't going to be because I didn't put in the time or the effort behind the scenes. If I wasn't successful than it wasn't meant to be. That's how I always approached it.

I had a heck of a career and enjoyed the ride for sure, and now it's great to set back and be a fan again, whether it's watching high school football under the lights on Friday nights, going with my family to K-State football games on Saturdays, or watching the Chiefs or the Packers play on TV on Sundays. It's good to just be a fan again. I missed that a lot.

DSF: A part of your story is the fact that you grew up a K-State fan, and you grew up attending K-State football games with your parents and family and watched K-State greats through the years. K-State was always in your blood. What's it like coming back to watch games again?

JN: It's awesome, especially sitting in the south endzone, except we sit up in the newly built section now. Growing up, our family always sat in the south end zone seats below, so now we're a couple sections over and a little higher, but it's the same viewpoint. It's exciting to be back out there and it's exciting to have the fans back in the stands. I wish a few more would come out. But it's exciting. I enjoy tailgating, and that's what I did growing up, and I have so many memories as a kid, and I want my kids to have those same memories of tailgating before K-State games and going to the games. Hopefully, they'll take their own families to K-State games.

DSF: What is the significance of being inducted into the K-State Athletics Hall of Fame?

JN: It's an honor. None of it was ever a part of the thought process when I came to K-State, but things happened over the years, and it's an honor. It's going to be a great evening at the ceremony, and it'll be great to be inducted with many great people, including some who were Kansas kids as well, honestly, like Laurie Koehn and Darren Sproles, who I either grew up watching or played with. I played with Darren a little bit, and I was able to watch Laurie and those girls play at Bramlage Coliseum. I have some Kansas pride with them and we're trying to carry on that tradition. Whenever you're able to leave your mark on a program for years to come it's an honor.

DSF: How do you hope to be remembered? What would you hope would be your legacy at K-State?

JN: I want to be remembered as a kid, like many others, who took a chance and made the most of my opportunity. So many people might not get the opportunity or miss their opportunity, and I think more miss their opportunity than not get an opportunity. I took a chance and left my mark, not only as a player on the field but hopefully as a member of the community as well, and hopefully I can make my mark again for years to come since we're back in the community. I was grateful to carry on the tradition of the walk-on. If it wasn't for Jon McGraw and the guys before me, I guarantee that I wouldn't have thought about walking on. Hopefully, I continue that walk-on tradition for players down the line to see that if you work hard, you have a chance for success. I believe the walk-on program is a true foundation of K-State, and that walk-ons might bring a little bit more passion and fire being from the state, and most likely growing up as K-State fans.

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