Usage / Role
7%
Rotational defensive role
lowfeatured
Player Dossier
2021-2025Vanderbilt
Mason Nelson
DL • 6'1" • 310 lbs • Howell, MI, USA
Ball-hunting defenderSplash play profile
Mason Nelson shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 11.3 disruption score.
Impact Production
36
Developing production for a defensive lineman
lowelite
Reliability
21
Sporadic game-to-game production
lowhigh
Star Power
47
Limited ceiling signals so far
limitedstar
Career Arc
Value trend by season
Best season by Season Value: 2024 Postseason · Western Michigan
212223242425
Snapshot
- Career Teams
- 2
- Unique Seasons
- 5
- Program Path
- Western Michigan • Vanderbilt
- Peak Game
- Peak game by takeover score: Bethune-Cookman
Player Story
Mason Nelson built his college career from 2021 through 2025 as a defensive lineman from Howell, MI wearing No. 54, spending time with Vanderbilt and Western Michigan. The clearest part of Mason Nelson's career was...
Read the story2★
- Committed To
- Western Michigan
- Commit Date
- Jan 1, 2020
Mason Nelson, DL. Best season Best season by Season Value: 2024 Postseason · Western Michigan. Mason Nelson shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 11.3 disruption score.
Stat Footprint
Career production snapshot
- Tackles
- 78
- TFL
- 15.5
- Sacks
- 7
- QB hurries
- 2
- Passes defended
- 1
Quick Answers
Mason Nelson quick answers
- Latest team and position
- Vanderbilt · DL
- Career Tackles
- 78
- Tracked sample
- 5 unique seasons · 6 entries · 34 games
- Best season
- 2024 Postseason · Western Michigan
- Top game
- Bethune-Cookman
- Recruit profile
- 2-star · Howell · Western Michigan
- High school pipeline
- Carrollton · 36 FBS recruits · 2 drafted players
- Latest roster
- No. 54 · Senior
- 2025 Tackles rank
- 6 tackles · DL 749th (top 70%) · SEC 422nd (top 56%) · National 3,501st (top 57%)
Season Ledger
Crawlable season-by-season stats
| Season | Team | Games | Tackles | TFL | Sacks | QB Hur | PD | TD | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 Regular Season | Western Michigan | 1 | 1 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 37.8 |
| 2022 Regular Season | Western Michigan | 6 | 8 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 7.9 |
| 2023 Regular Season | Western Michigan | 11 | 32 | 5 | 3 | 1 | - | 0 | 41 |
| 2024 Postseason | Western Michigan | 12 | 1 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 57.1 |
| 2024 Regular Season | Western Michigan | 12 | 30 | 8.5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 57.1 |
| 2025 Regular Season | Vanderbilt | 4 | 6 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 0 | 13.7 |
Related Context
Keep exploring Mason Nelson
Transfer Portal History
Matched portal movement
| Season | Path | Movement | Value | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Western Michigan to Vanderbilt | G5/FCS to P4 | 81.4 | Apr 23, 2025 |
Mason Nelson played DL for Western Michigan and Vanderbilt. Across 5 tracked seasons, Mason Nelson recorded 78 tackles. His top tracked season came in 2023 with Western Michigan.
Player insights
Lead takeaway
Best season by value score: 2024 Postseason
Western Michigan paired 13.5 primary output with 22 efficiency.
Supporting note
2025 Regular Season role shape
impact-led usage with 11.3 efficiency.
Supporting note
Career value cooled off
2025 Regular Season fell back from the prior stop by season value score.
Supporting note
Multi-stop career journey
Production spans 2 team stops, with role shifts visible across Western Michigan, Vanderbilt.
Supporting note
Peak game by takeover score: Georgia State
Win with 2 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.
2025 Regular Season · Vanderbilt
Games
4
Havoc Plays / G
0.5
Efficiency
11.3
Usage
2.5
Consistency
8.3
Best Game by takeover score
Georgia State
Hover a point or expand a game row to keep the active game context visible here.
Active game
Hover over a point
Hover or select a game to keep its context visible here without the page shifting around.
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. Charleston Southern: 0. Georgia State: 2. Missouri: 0. Kentucky: 0
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. Charleston Southern: 1 by 4.2. Georgia State: 2 by 28.3. Missouri: 1 by 4.2. Kentucky: 2 by 8.3
Split Comparison
Compare how this player performed across different situations. "Games" shows how many matchups are included in each split.
First Half1 · Games = 2 · +1 vs Second Half
Second Half0 · Games = 2 · -1 vs First Half
Game Log
Dense stat lines with inline explanations and season-linked highlights.
4 games
Featured metric
Havoc Plays
Top game by takeover score
Georgia State
Best efficiency game
28.3 vs Georgia State
Player Story
Mason Nelson story
Mason Nelson built his college career from 2021 through 2025 as a defensive lineman from Howell, MI wearing No. 54, spending time with Vanderbilt and Western Michigan. The clearest part of Mason Nelson's career was his defensive production: 78 tackles, 15.5 tackles for loss, 7 sacks, and 1 pass defended across 34 career games in the available record. That gives Mason Nelson'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
Western Michigan
2021-2024
Opening stop
- 2
Vanderbilt
2025
Final stop
Season Value Progression
202120222023202420242025
| Season | Team | Primary | Efficiency | Usage | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 Regular Season | Western Michigan | 0 | 4.2 | 1.1 | — |
| 2022 Regular Season | Western Michigan | 1 | 7.2 | 1.3 | 1 |
| 2023 Regular Season | Western Michigan | 9 | 20.3 | 7.4 | 8 |
| 2024 Postseason | Western Michigan | 13.5 | 22 | 6.9 | 4.5 |
| 2024 Regular Season | Western Michigan | 13.5 | 22 | 6.9 | 0 |
| 2025 Regular Season | Vanderbilt | 2 | 11.3 | 2.5 | -11.5 |
Signature Performances
Top Games
#1 Featured game
vs Bethune-Cookman
Week 3 · W 59-31
Win with 3.5 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
3.5
Havoc Plays
82.5 takeover
3.5 disruption/tackle impact with 82.5 takeover score.
#2
vs Ball State
Week 5 · W 42-24 · Conference game
3
Havoc Plays
79.2 takeover
Win with 3 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
3 disruption/tackle impact with 79.2 takeover score.
#3
@ Ball State
Week 6 · W 45-42 · Conference game
3
Havoc Plays
77.5 takeover
Win with 3 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
3 disruption/tackle impact with 77.5 takeover score.
#4
vs Kent State
Week 9 · W 52-21 · Conference game
3
Havoc Plays
71.1 takeover
Win with 3 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
3 disruption/tackle impact with 71.1 takeover score.
#5
@ Syracuse
Week 2 · L 7-48
2
Havoc Plays
66.4 takeover
Loss with 2 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2 disruption/tackle impact with 66.4 takeover score.
Top Seasons
#1 Season by Season Value
2024 Postseason · Western Michigan
13.5 primary output · 22 efficiency · 6.9 usage
57.1
#2
2024 Regular Season · Western Michigan
57.1
13.5 primary · 22 efficiency · 6.9 usage
#3
2023 Regular Season · Western Michigan
41
9 primary · 20.3 efficiency · 7.4 usage
Milestones
7
Impact games
7
Splash games
0
10+ tackle games
Next best actions
Keep exploring Mason Nelson
Move from the player story into the game log, career arc, team context, and video shelf.