*Rookie wide receiver Jordy Nelson is going through his first training camp in the NFL, and Packers.com will check in with him periodically the next few weeks to get his thoughts and experiences in this training camp diary.
Nelson was a consensus All-America selection at Kansas State, and was one of three finalists for the Biletnikoff Award in 2007. He posted school records as a senior with 122 receptions for 1,606 yards after beginning his career with the Wildcats as a walk-on safety.
On Saturday night at San Francisco, Nelson got his first opportunity as a kickoff returner and posted returns of 56 and 58 yards. He added two receptions for 10 yards.*
I thought kickoff return went well against the 49ers. We were able to make some big plays, and the guys up front did a great job of blocking. We were able to hit a seam and get a couple of big-yardage plays. Offensively it was obviously not the way we wanted to go out and perform. I think we have done well in practice this week and we need to go to Denver and play better.
It was the first time in my life that I have ever returned kickoffs. It's not too different from returning punts, which I did a little bit of in college. You get more time once you get the ball, but you still have got to find the seam and hit it. A lot of it really depends on the guys up front, and when they do a good job, it makes us look good on the back end.
In college the coaches approached me about returning punts and they slowly moved me back there. We worked on it for a couple of years, and then just my senior year we were able to get back and have a pretty good punt return team.
This is a really talented wide receiver group that we have here, so special teams is a great opportunity to get out on the field and make some plays and try to catch the coaches' eyes to get you on the field offensively or defensively. I think everybody is just trying to work to be able to make plays on Sundays and help this team win.
Practice this week has been good. I think everyone is just trying to keep improving and move forward and learn from what we did and just progress.
I'm approaching this week's game in Denver the same way I have the first two games. I just want to be assignment sound and continue to progress. I need to just continue to get better and prepare myself for the regular season.
I think I can see progress. Definitely if you look back at OTAs compared to now, and even at the beginning of the training camp, I feel like I have improved. Every day in practice and games I feel like I have continued to pick things up better and hopefully it can continue into the regular season here in a few weeks.
