Nelson Spruce, the former University of Colorado wide receiver, went undrafted and was signed as a free agent by the Los Angeles Rams to be mostly a special teams player, but the coaching staff in L.A. is keeping a close eye on the Pac-12’s all-time receptions leader.
John Fassel, the Rams’ special teams coordinator, joined Gil Whiteley on Mile High Sports AM 1310 | FM 104.7 to talk about Spruce’s upside and how he sees him contributing to the team.
“We have a lot of guys on board,” said Fassel when talking about Spruce. “He catches the ball great, great route runner, he’s really sharp.”
This should come to no surprise to anybody who followed Spruce at Colorado.
He set the Pac-12 record in career receptions with 294 and finished as Colorado’s all-time leader in every major receiving category. In his last two seasons as a Buff, Spruce racked up 195 receptions, 2,251 yards, and 16 touchdowns for a team that won just six games in that time. He was by far the most reliable and talented receiver the Buffs arguably ever had and it was a shame he wasn’t drafted.
Not every college player who produces gets drafted, though, and physical features such as height, weight, and speed sometimes come before statistics in the minds of NFL talent evaluators.
At 6-foot-1, 206 pounds, Spruce didn’t stand out to most scouts as being an NFL prototype. His 40-yard dash time, 4.69, didn’t help his case either, but Spruce wanted teams to look past his numbers and more towards his ability to catch the ball.
“I feel like nowadays there’s so much emphasis put on 40 [yard dash] times,” Spruce told reporters at his pro day. “I like receivers that really take pride in their craft and are really detailed in their route-running, have good hands, stuff like that. I don’t think that straight-line speed is really as important if you can do other things like that.”
Spruce made those comments before he was signed by the Rams, but it’s easy to see why he deserves a chance, eventually, on offense and not just special teams.
“His ticket to making an NFL roster is going to be on special teams the first couple years,” Fassel said.
“For Nelson, we’re excited about him,” he added.
Spruce understands that he has always been overlooked and not many scouts had him being much of a star at the college level, but he proved them wrong.
“Ever since I started football I’ve been a guy under the radar,” Spruce told reporters before the draft.
As a three star recruit out of Westlake High School – only a few miles away from where the Rams hold their spring practices – Spruce was the 1,016th ranked recruit according to 247Sports. He went on to be the No. 1 receiver in Pac-12 history.
Now, he is now determined to show all 32 teams that passed up on him in the draft why they made a huge mistake and ready to prove to the Rams he is more than just a special teams player.
Listen to the full interview with Fassel, including his take on how special teams is changing across the NFL, in the podcast below…
Catch Gil Whiteley every weekday from 11a-1p on Mile High Sports AM 1340 | FM 104.7 or stream live any time for the best local coverage of Colorado sports from Denver’s biggest sports talk lineup.
