Nelson Becomes the Program’s First NBA Draft Pick Since Jason Jennings

You may or may not be aware that Arkansas State isn’t exactly a trampoline to the NBA. The university’s history with professional basketball is succinct. A-State legend Jerry Rook was drafted by the Baltimore Bullets in the NBA’s 14th round in 1965. He didn’t make the roster, but Rook did play a season in the ABA, averaging about 4-points per game for the New Orleans Buccaneers before devoting himself full-time to coaching high school hoops. After Rook, the NBA took a flyer of five Arkansas State athletes, with only one – John Dickson – ever touching a sneaker on a NBA court.

Jason Jennings was A-State’s last NBA draftee, going in the second round to the Portland Trailblazers in 2002. The seven-foot shot-blocker opted to devote his pro career in Europe. Jennings didn’t spend his entire college career in Jonesboro. After two years at Arkansas, he transferred to Arkansas State and became the Sun Belt’s most prolific blocker of shots, once recording a triple double (31pts, 10reb, 11 blocked shots) against Morris Brown.

It seemed that Jennings would be the last basketball player the NBA would ever consider. After all, Red Wolves hoops was a kind of quagmire for the undersized and modestly talented, serving as the Sun Belt’s representative for mediocre basketball. That destiny forked when former Red Wolves head coach Mike Balado saw something in 6’10” center/forward Zay Nelson out of Marietta High School.

Say what you want about Balado’s combative personality and coaching style, the man did have an eye for talent, recruiting both Nelson and Norchad Omier, the latter arguably one of the best college basketball players to ever touch Red Wolves’ hardwood. When Balado was unceremoniously dismissed, new head coach Bryan Hodgson convinced Nelson to stick around.

Nelson saw his starting minutes explode as a sophomore, averaging 9.8 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.0 blocks. Where he lacked in finesse and motor-reflex command, he made up for with joyous emotion, quickly becoming a fan-favorite with his real-time enthusiastic appeals for fan engagement. The next season, Nelson carded a 10.6 points 8.9 rebounds 1.3 blocks stat line, serving as both the emotional and production catalyst to a team that would see its first NIT berth in years.

When Hodgson jumped to USF after the 2024-25 season, he brought a handful of guys with him. Nelson was among them. Not only did he improve his stat line (15.9 points, 9.6 rebounds, 1.6 steals, 1.4 blocks), Nelson led all of Division I with 89 slam dunks. His mouth permanently propped wide in an expression of pure amazement, Nelson earned American Athletic Conference Player of the Year, Defensive POY and Newcomer of the Year. He parlayed these honors into a second-round pick by the Washington Wizards, who later optioned him to the Orlando Magic.

At Arkansas State, Nelson’s hyperactive personality made him a favorite among a Red Wolves fanbase who had become accustomed to seeing basketball played as if it were a punishment from Zeus. When Nelson acquired a lower-leg injury to start the 2024-25 season, his borderline ADHD antics both amused and frustrated Hodgson, who channeled his star player’s energy into gobbling up rebounds. While injured, Nelson worked on a three-pointer that never improved, providing moments of comedy for fans and bursts of goodnatured dismay from his head coach. (Nelson concluded his college career with 11 three-pointers made on 72 attempts.) He was more than a basketball players at Arkansas State – Nelson was a celebrity with superstar charisma.

Despite leaving with Hodgson for the University of South Florida, Nelson cements his legacy as a true Arkansas State Man™, personifying a new and brighter era for Red Wolves basketball. May his three-pointers see nothing but net in Orlando.

PHOTOS: Mine