Usage / Role
38%
Rotational defensive role
lowfeatured
Player Dossier
2019-2023SMU
Nelson Paul
DE • 6'2" • 237 lbs • Bunnell, FL, USA
Ball-hunting defenderSplash play profile
Nelson Paul shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 20.6 disruption score.
Impact Production
82
High-end production for an edge defender
lowelite
Reliability
76
Regular contributor with several takeover games
lowhigh
Star Power
81
High-upside career profile
limitedstar
Career Arc
Value trend by season
Best season by Season Value: 2022 Regular Season · SMU
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Snapshot
- Career Teams
- 1
- Unique Seasons
- 5
- Program Path
- SMU
- Peak Game
- Peak game by takeover score: TCU
Player Story
Nelson Paul built his college career from 2019 through 2023 as a defensive end from Bunnell, FL wearing No. 9, spending time with SMU. The clearest part of Nelson Paul's career was his defensive production: 101...
Read the story3★
- Committed To
- SMU
- Commit Date
- Jan 1, 2019
Nelson Paul, DE. Best season Best season by Season Value: 2022 Regular Season · SMU. Nelson Paul shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 20.6 disruption score.
Stat Footprint
Career production snapshot
- Tackles
- 101
- TFL
- 24.5
- Sacks
- 15
- QB hurries
- 9
- Passes defended
- 3
Quick Answers
Nelson Paul quick answers
- Latest team and position
- SMU · DE
- Career Tackles
- 101
- Tracked sample
- 5 unique seasons · 6 entries · 45 games
- Best season
- 2022 Regular Season · SMU
- Top game
- TCU
- Recruit profile
- 3-star · Flagler Palm Coast · SMU
- High school pipeline
- Flagler Palm Coast · 6 FBS recruits · 0 drafted players
- Latest roster
- No. 9 · Senior
- 2023 Tackles rank
- 22 tackles · DE 98th (top 34%) · American Athletic 194th (top 31%) · National 1,842nd (top 31%)
Season Ledger
Crawlable season-by-season stats
| Season | Team | Games | Tackles | TFL | Sacks | QB Hur | PD | TD | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 Postseason | SMU | 10 | 1 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 26.7 |
| 2019 Regular Season | SMU | 10 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 26.7 |
| 2020 Regular Season | SMU | 7 | 19 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 2 | - | 0 | 57.2 |
| 2021 Regular Season | SMU | 5 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 3 | - | 0 | 24.9 |
| 2022 Regular Season | SMU | 12 | 43 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 62 |
| 2023 Regular Season | SMU | 11 | 22 | 7 | 4.5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 47.8 |
Related Context
Keep exploring Nelson Paul
Nelson Paul played DE for SMU. Across 5 tracked seasons, Nelson Paul recorded 10 receiving yards and 101 tackles. His top tracked season came in 2022 with SMU.
Player insights
Lead takeaway
Best season by value score: 2022 Regular Season
SMU paired 17 primary output with 28.3 efficiency.
Supporting note
2020 Regular Season role shape
impact-led usage with 25.6 efficiency.
Supporting note
Career value cooled off
2023 Regular Season fell back from the prior stop by season value score.
Supporting note
Peak game by takeover score: Tulane
Win with 2.5 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet. It landed in the 100th percentile of the selected season.
Analysis workspace
Season Workbench
Filter the strongest season sample, inspect game-level shape, and then drop into the full log without losing the story of the year.
Season Explorer
Understand the selected season before dropping into the full game log.
2020 Regular Season · SMU
Games
7
Havoc Plays / G
1.4
Efficiency
25.6
Usage
9.2
Consistency
67.6
Best Game by takeover score
Tulane
Hover a point or expand a game row to keep the active game context visible here.
Active game
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Game-by-Game Trend
Follow how the selected stat changes from one game to the next. Spikes mark standout outings, while dips show quieter weeks.
Chronological game order.
Game by game trend chart. North Texas: 1.5. Stephen F. Austin: 2. Memphis: 1. Tulane: 2.5. Cincinnati: 0. Temple: 2. East Carolina: 1
Volume vs Efficiency
Each dot is a game. Farther right means the player carried more of the workload, and higher means they were more efficient with those chances.
Low volumeHigh quality
High volumeHigh quality
Low volumeLower quality
High volumeLower quality
Volume on the x-axis, quality on the y-axis.
Volume versus efficiency scatter chart. North Texas: 2 by 23.3. Stephen F. Austin: 1 by 24.2. Memphis: 3 by 22.5. Tulane: 4 by 41.7. Cincinnati: 2 by 8.3. Temple: 4 by 36.7. East Carolina: 3 by 22.5
Split Comparison
Compare how this player performed across different situations. "Games" shows how many matchups are included in each split.
Wins1.8 · Games = 5 · +1.3 vs Losses
Losses0.5 · Games = 2 · -1.3 vs Wins
Game Log
Dense stat lines with inline explanations and season-linked highlights.
7 games
Featured metric
Havoc Plays
Top game by takeover score
Tulane
Best efficiency game
41.7 vs Tulane
| Result | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sat 11/28 | @ East Carolina | L 38-52 | 3 | 1 | — | 0.50 | 0.50 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 11/7 | @ TempleSplash game | W 47-23 | 4 | 2 | — | 1 | 1 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sun 10/25 | vs Cincinnati | L 13-42 | 2 | 2 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Fri 10/16 | @ TulaneSplash game | W 37-34 | 4 | 3 | — | 1.50 | 1 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/3 | vs Memphis | W 30-27 | 3 | 2 | — | 0 | 1 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/26 | vs Stephen F. AustinSplash game | W 50-7 | 1 | 1 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/19 | @ North Texas | W 65-35 | 2 | 0 | — | 0.50 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
Player Story
Nelson Paul story
Nelson Paul built his college career from 2019 through 2023 as a defensive end from Bunnell, FL wearing No. 9, spending time with SMU. The clearest part of Nelson Paul's career was his defensive production: 101 tackles, 24.5 tackles for loss, 15 sacks, and 3 passes defended across 45 career games in the available record. His career also includes 10 receiving yards, giving the story more than a single-category snapshot. That gives Nelson Paul's career enough real context without stretching the story beyond the available production.
Career Arc
Track team changes, role shifts, and season-to-season movement.
- 1
SMU
2019-2023
Opening stop
Season Value Progression
201920192020202120222023
| Season | Team | Primary | Efficiency | Usage | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 Postseason | SMU | 6 | 10.2 | 2.1 | — |
| 2019 Regular Season | SMU | 6 | 10.2 | 2.1 | 0 |
| 2020 Regular Season | SMU | 10 | 25.6 | 9.2 | 4 |
| 2021 Regular Season | SMU | 5 | 15.8 | 5.7 | -5 |
| 2022 Regular Season | SMU | 17 | 28.3 | 10.2 | 12 |
| 2023 Regular Season | SMU | 13.5 | 20.6 | 5.3 | -3.5 |
Signature Performances
Top Games
#1 Featured game
vs TCU
Week 4 · L 34-42
Loss with backfield disruption leading the way.
6
Havoc Plays
94.4 takeover
6 disruption/tackle impact with 94.4 takeover score.
#2
vs Charlotte
Week 5 · W 34-16 · Conference game
3.5
Havoc Plays
85.3 takeover
Win with 3.5 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
3.5 disruption/tackle impact with 85.3 takeover score.
#3
@ Louisiana Tech
Week 3 · W 39-37
5
Havoc Plays
84.7 takeover
Win with 5 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
5 disruption/tackle impact with 84.7 takeover score.
#4
@ Tulane
Week 7 · W 37-34 · Conference game
2.5
Havoc Plays
80.6 takeover
Win with 2.5 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2.5 disruption/tackle impact with 80.6 takeover score.
#5
@ Tulane
Week 14 · W 26-14 · Conference game
3
Havoc Plays
76.1 takeover
Win with 3 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
3 disruption/tackle impact with 76.1 takeover score.
Top Seasons
#1 Season by Season Value
2022 Regular Season · SMU
17 primary output · 28.3 efficiency · 10.2 usage
62
#2
2020 Regular Season · SMU
57.2
10 primary · 25.6 efficiency · 9.2 usage
#3
2023 Regular Season · SMU
47.8
13.5 primary · 20.6 efficiency · 5.3 usage
Milestones
7
Impact games
13
Splash games
0
10+ tackle games
Next best actions
Keep exploring Nelson Paul
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