As Arizona's fastest high school student, Blaise Nelson is more known as a track star.

But the Valley Vista senior is focusing on football in college and signed to play in the Skydome at NAU on Dec. 16. He said any potential track career in college is secondary, if it happens at all.

"The offer I received is strictly for football. I am aware that they have a very good track team but as of right I do not have any plans to run track there, although it is a possibility," Nelson said.

Nelson won the Division I 100- and 200-meter dashes in the spring, finishing with a 10.82 in the 100 and 21.53 in the 200.

Nelson caught 51 passes for 661 yards and seven touchdowns, and returned a 98-yard kickoff return touchdown to open the rivalry game against Willow Canyon.

Second-year Monsoon coach Derek Wahlstrom said Nelson is a student of the game who does not just rely on his speed.

"Blaise's biggest skill is his work ethic. Yes, he is fast. But his willingness to work on minute details and apply coaching almost immediately allows him to improve daily, even at things he is already good at," Wahlstrom said.

Nelson also considered offers from two other FCS schools, the University of North Dakota and the University of St. Thomas.

Committing almost a month after the Monsoon's season ending loss to Pinnacle in the frist round of the playoffs helped Nelson.

"Waiting after football season did help, it helped me go and travel to see these schools and have all sorts of contact with the coaches," Nelson said. "It allowed for me to see which coaches were still reaching out and showing interest. Not only from my top 3 but from other schools as well."

Wahlstrom said he spoke with the majority of the coaches who visited the Surprise campus about Nelson.

He passed on advice to Nelson what he could but quickly realized his senior did not need much guidance navigating the recruiting process.

"In terms of speaking with Blaise, I provided whatever insights I could regarding his recruitment and answered any questions he might have," Wahlstrom said. "Blaise really did a good job of educating himself on the process and the colleges recruiting him. He applied his work ethlic from the classroom and track to the recruiting process as well."

Nelson started as a sophomore in what was Josh SeKoch's final season as head coach.

He has been one of the building blocks for the culture Wahlstrom wants to establish in his first two years at the school.

"When your best players are willig to accept coaching, the other players are more willing to buy in," Wahlstrom said. "The younger players definitely look to him for inspiration and follow his lead. I am grateful he was so williang to provide that leadership and be a positive role model for our program."

Nelson said the whole process of building and improving buildings is something he's very interested in and excited to see how it works, so he plans to major in construction management.

And he's looking forward to the building process with a Lumberjacks program coming off a tough 2022 season that ended with a 3-8 record.

Overall NAU was the school that kept most up to date with me and showed a lot of interest and so that became very appealing. Made me feel like they truly wanted me to come and make an impact to their team. Alongside their brand new facility, they have a lot to offer and I’m very excited to be apart of it," Nelson said.