CHAMPAIGN — Pat Nelson knew he was keeping busy last Saturday at Nebraska. He just didn’t realize how busy.
The redshirt freshman safety finished Illinois football’s game against Nebraska with 16 tackles, the most by an Illini this season. And the third-best single-game total in the Big Ten.
“I didn’t know I had 16 tackles until after the game,” Nelson said, “I thought I had 10 at the most. Once my teammates told me I had 16 and I saw it on Twitter, I was like, ‘Wow.’ ”
He wasn’t tired. Or sore.
“I felt like I could have kept playing,” Nelson said.