The word “respect” gets thrown around a lot.
It’s used by people in every facet of life and can almost be seen as a common cliché at this point.
But for Kansas City Chiefs’ fourth-year cornerback Steve Nelson—the word serves as a companion to the chip that’s resided on his shoulder dating back to his days growing up in the hotbed area of SEC football, Warner Robins, Georgia.
All players’ stories are different, but Nelson’s includes no silver spoons.
After not qualifying academically for a handful of Division I teams that showed interest in him out of high school, Nelson had to go the junior college route—attending the College of the Sequoias for two years before heading to the other side of the country to attend Oregon State, where he was handed nothing and had to work his way into a role.