NFL draft: Michigan State football's Jalen Nailor drafted by Minnesota Vikings in Round 6
Jalen Nailor is the latest in a long line of Michigan State football wide receivers to get picked in the NFL draft.
The Minnesota Vikings selected Nailor with the 191st overall pick, in the sixth round, on Saturday in Las Vegas after the native of Palmdale, California, turned pro with two years of eligibility remaining.
"I just feel like I can be a dynamic playmaker for them," Nailor said on a video call with reporters. "It's just trying to come in and just make plays whenever the team needs me. Just do whatever the team and the coaches ask me — whatever I gotta do, I'm gonna do it to 110%."
Injuries kept Nailor sidelined for long stretches of his MSU career (he played 28 games with 21 starts in four seasons). That included undisclosed injuries as a freshman in 2018 that cost him five games, a foot injury in 2019 that limited him to four games and allowed him to redshirt, then four games in 2021 with a right hand injury. The only time he did not miss a game as a Spartan came during the seven-game, COVID-19 shortened 2020 season.
But when he was healthy, Nailor, at 5 feet 11 and 192 pounds, flashed game-breaking speed matched with solid hands and the ability to contribute in both the run game and on special teams.
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Against Rutgers last season, Nailor caught five passes for 221 yards, the fourth-best single-game total in MSU history. That included touchdown catches of 63, 63 and 65 yards in the first half from quarterback Payton Thorne. He suffered a hand injury midway through the Spartans’ win over Michigan and missed the final four regular-season games before returning with six catches and a team-high 108 yards in their Peach Bowl win over Pitt.
"It was just a freak accident. I kind of just tried to brace myself on the ground and broke my hand there," Nailor said of the injury against U-M. "I feel amazing right now. It's definitely the best I've ever felt my whole life. So I just can't wait to get to Minnesota and get to work."
Playing opposite Jayden Reed for the second straight season, Nailor finished 2021 with 37 catches for 695 yards and six touchdowns to earn All-Big Ten honorable mention by the media. He averaged 19.2 yards per catch the past two seasons and left MSU having caught 86 passes for 1,454 yards with 12 receiving touchdowns, adding 17 carries for 163 yards and another score.
Nailor could have returned for his final year of true eligibility plus an additional year with the NCAA’s COVID-19 waiver but instead announced his early entry into the draft Jan. 3. He was one of three Spartans — along with running back Kenneth Walker III and tight end Connor Heyward — to receive an invite to the NFL combine in Indianapolis, where Nailor posted a 4.50-second 40-yard dash to finish 19th among the receivers. He ranked in the top 10 in his position group at the combine in the three-cone drill, 20-yard shuttle, vertical jump and broad jump.
Nailor, who hopes to catch passes from Vikings starter and former Spartan star quarterback Kirk Cousins, becomes the 29th MSU wide receiver selected all time but the Spartans’ first since Aaron Burbridge went to San Francisco in the sixth round of the 2016 NFL draft.
In 2020, the Vikings drafted former MSU star Kenny Willekes in Round 7. The defensive end and former teammate of Nailor had nine tackles and 2½ sacks this season.
"I talked to Kenny for a brief moment, for probably about 10 or 15 seconds once I got picked," Nailor said. "He's just excited for me, and I'm just excited to be part of the family."
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football's Jalen Nailor drafted by Vikings in Round 6
