Buena Park left tackle Ryan Nelson committed to Virginia over the weekend on his official visit to the Atlantic Coast Conference school, the senior said Monday.
Nelson (6-5, 275) earlier made an official visit to Arizona, the other finalist on his list.
“I just fell in love with literally everything at Virginia,” Nelson said in a phone interview. “The academics got me. .. It’s a college town. Everyone loves UVA. … It was amazing for me. I knew it was the place.”
Nelson aspires to become a high school history teacher, and is excited about Virginia’s place in U.S. history.
He also identified with the direction of Virginia’s football program.
“They’re rebuilding,” he said. “It’s really cool for me to be a part of that because when I came into Buena Park, they were trying to build a program, so I feel that I could do that at Virginia as well.”
Nelson is the third Buena Park player to commit to a major Division I-A program, joining wide receiver Jeremiah Hawkins and Taariq Johnson, who have pledged to Cal.
“Little by little, we’re trying to get our national recruits out there,” Buena Park coach Anthony White said. “It just shows how far the Buena Park program has come when it comes to showcasing our student-athletes natioal-wide.”
Please send football recruiting news to Dan Albano at dalbano@scng.com or @ocvarsityguy on Twitter
