Charles Nelson has been one of the highlights of the Oregon football roster since he first joined the team in 2014, but with his more centralized role on offense this season, he hasn’t made all the significant strides many expected.
Last season, he made a transition to the secondary to help Oregon’s struggling defense. He played safety, slot receiver and was the Ducks’ leading kick returner. 
Going into this season, Nelson was relieved to be able to dismiss his defensive role and focus only on the offensive side of the ball.
“It’s great on my end because I get to focus on one position and be more comfortable at one position,” Nelson said prior to the 2016 season. “I’m not focused on defense, offense and all this other stuff going on. I get to key in on one thing.”
With all of his focus on offense, this season has the potential to be his breakout year. While Nelson has been the decently productive player that he’s always been, when asked if he is happy with his progression this year, he said, “not at all.”
Early in the season, Nelson was taking nearly all the kickoff and punt return reps, but as of late his special teams role has decreased.
“Charles had some issues with securing the ball early on, of course, and just a lot of factors go into those things,” Oregon special teams coordinator Tom Osborne said.
Health and the number of reps that the athletes take are other factors that go into deciding who takes those returns, Osborne said.
Against Cal, Nelson was temporarily injured but made his return to the field shortly after. He averaged 3.83 kickoff returns throughout the first six games and has returned five punts this season, but did not take a single return all game against the Golden Bears.
Despite that brief injury in the third quarter, Nelson ended up having one of his best games of the season. He had seven receptions for 84 yards and two touchdowns. Those were his first two touchdowns of the season, apart from his score on a kickoff return against Washington State.
Although he is an “explosive guy,” Osborne attributes a lot of Nelson’s special teams success to his teammates.
“It means that the other 10 guys are doing a good job of blocking,” Osborne said. “I mean he’s a great player, but like the kick return he had against Washington State, all he did was run down the sideline because they blocked it so good.”
Solely focusing on offense has taken a lot of stress off Nelson’s shoulders and allowed Oregon to utilize him in multiple ways offensively.
“I think [only playing offense has] enabled him to be more confident in certainly offensive production, with how we’ve used him, and also on special teams,” Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich said.
Going forward, Nelson’s offensive speed and agility will be crucial for the Ducks to reach their first Pac-12 win. And with only offense to worry about, he has the potential to be a playmaker that this Oregon offense desperately needs.
Follow Kylee O’Connor on Twitter @kyleethemightee