#85 Nate Nord

Class: RS Senior Ht/Wt: 6-5/230 Position: Tight End Hometown: Boca Raton, Fla

Louisville’s Take: Made strides in all aspects of the offense last season ... has stepped up with the graduation of two tight ends ... has good hands and has improved as a blocker... injuries have hampered his career.

Thoughts: Nate came into the Cardinal program and immediately redshirted due to the talent depth at tight end. That depth also prevented Nate from seeing game action in 2009. Sitting behind Cameron Graham and Chichester is nothing to be ashamed about, but it limited his on field experience to just two years. Nord was a nice addition to the starting tight ends the last couple years and now finally has an opportunity to show what he can do. While one can speculate how the "new look" offense will function, it has been seen that a two tight end look may not be out of the ordinary for Coach Watson. It appears Nate will split time with White, Hubbell and others but I’d expect him to vastly improve over his 4 reception-24 yard output from a year ago.

Last year was capped off for Nate with a beautiful catch in the Belk Bowl for a late touch to make things interesting. Let’s go ahead and use that as a springboard for a few more of those 6 point grabs this year.

Potential Nicknames:"Nate Dogg" "OchoCinco" (Has that been trademarked..?)