Washington and Lee Quarterback Charlie Nelson, ‘17, has seen an uptick in both his stats and confidence level running the complex triple-option offense.

  “Being an upperclassman quarterback has made it a lot easier for me to take on a leadership role compared to last year when I was a sophomore, as it is fairly difficult to take charge of the offense when you’re an underclassman,” Nelson said.

  Nelson has rushed for a team high 201 yards on 22 carries and is averaging 9.1 yards per carry.  His tally of five rushing touchdowns is also a team high.

One attribute Nelson contributed to his success was the familiarity with most of the backs and receivers on the team.

  “We have the same offensive backfield and skill positions that we had a year ago, all of whom are much more experienced, which has made the offense run a lot smoother,” Nelson said. “I’m a little more focused in on what the offense as a whole has to do this year as opposed to what I have to do individually.”

  It will be interesting to see how Nelson keeps up his play when the ODAC season starts Oct. 3 against Guilford.  He said he hopes to improve on last year’s 2-5 record in conference play.

  But if he continues to control the tempo of play like he has so far this season, it is possible to keep the Generals in the thick of the ODAC race as the team attempts to win its first title since 2012.

  “My main goal is to help the team win each game we play, taking it one game at a time,” Nelson said. “But of course an ODAC championship wouldn’t be too bad either.”