GREEN BAY — Search "Jordy Nelson" on YouTube, and you begin to get an idea of just how good the former Kansas State All-American wide receiver was in college and the kind of pro potential the Green Bay Packers' first pick in last weekend's draft really has.

There's footage of Nelson flat-out embarrassing Kansas cornerback Aqib Talib, who went 20th overall to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, on a sideline go route, pulling away from Talib on what turns out to be a 68-yard touchdown.

There's video of Nelson getting to the corner and taking off up the right sideline on an 89-yard punt return in the Wildcats' 41-21 upset of Texas.

And there's a clip of Nelson, on a pass thrown well behind him against Baylor, somehow reaching back with his left arm fully extended to snare the off-target throw. Nelson catches the ball only 3 yards past the line of scrimmage but sheds a tackle and turns it into a 31-yard gain.

As of Saturday afternoon, the top 10 videos featuring Nelson had been viewed a combined 236,495 times. Nelson, whose first impression is one of humility rather than self-promotion, admits he's seen a few of them, but says he isn't the one posting the videos and has no clue where they're coming from.

"I couldn't tell you who's doing it," Nelson said with a slightly embarrassed smile.

One person we know who isn't the culprit is University of Wisconsin senior quarterback Allan Evridge, who spent two years with Nelson at Kansas State before transferring to UW.

Because Nelson was something of an unknown commodity to Packers fans before the draft — hence the boos general manager Ted Thompson received at the annual Lambeau Field draft party — Evridge has been deemed the local authority on him.

"I don't need the YouTube. I know exactly what he's capable of," said Evridge, who sent Nelson a congratulatory text message on draft day. "Everybody keeps texting me asking me, 'What's this Jordy Nelson all about?' Well, I know Jordy pretty well, and they got a good one.

"First of all, character-wise, you're not going to find anyone better. And on the football field, he's so gifted — 6-3, 220, runs like a deer, extremely strong, physical player. He's definitely a good catch."

In the first practice of this weekend's rookie orientation camp, Nelson caught everything thrown his way Friday (the only practice open to reporters), including a deep ball down the right sideline from seventh-round pick Matt Flynn against second-round pick Patrick Lee.

"(I) really liked the way he moves, and I'll tell you, I thought he did an excellent job on the 'go' route," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "You could see the patience that he has with the ball in the air. He's an accomplished route-runner, just the little I've seen. I'm glad he's on our team."

A breakout year

Lenny McGill, the Packers' college scout who covers the Central Plains region, first noticed Nelson on his initial visit to Kansas State, during Nelson's junior season. Then last year, when Nelson caught 122 passes for 1,606 yards and 11 touchdowns, McGill saw constant productivity — not just the YouTube-worthy highlights.

"My first visit to Kansas State was the first time that I was really like, 'This guy has a chance to be a good player.' Everyone that you talked to had nothing but positive things to say about the kid as a person and work habits and how competitive he was," McGill said.

"(Last season) week in and week out, he was consistently just making plays on a team that really didn't have a lot of offensive weapons. So the teams that they played against, it was their focus to stop Jordy Nelson. You basically stop him, you beat Kansas State. Despite of all that, week in and week out, he would make plays."

When Ron Prince took over as the Wildcats' coach after five years as an assistant at Virginia, Nelson was one of three returning receivers and was coming off a solid year (team-leading 45 catches for 669 yards and eight TDs in 11 starts) despite playing for a team that had finished last in the division for the second straight year.

"Jordy was a real rock at that time," said Prince, comparing Nelson to former Virginia tight end Heath Miller, now with the Pittsburgh Steelers. "He didn't have a lot to say, he just did his job."

Although limited by a knee injury for most of his junior year, Nelson still led the Wildcats in 2006 in receiving (39 receptions, 547 yards) and finished the season with four catches for 81 yards against Rutgers in the Texas Bowl.

"He played every game, even though he didn't feel all that great. He fought through it and was on all the special teams, too," Prince said. "The bowl game, that was a big preview of things to come. We were able to get the ball to him over and over again."

And again and again. The kid who had arrived at Kansas State as a walk-on, ex-prep quarterback and spent his first two years at safety had 10 or more receptions in six of 12 games last season and 100 or more yards in eight of the 12. Prince said the Wildcats used Nelson everywhere — outside, in the slot, in motion — to get him open, which is why Prince thinks Nelson will quickly learn the Packers' offense.

"Most people don't have the acumen or the football intelligence to do that," Prince said. "We probably used six or seven personnel groups a game, and all of it was to be able to move him and people not be able to find him.

"There weren't any games he could be shut out. There was nothing he couldn't handle. He catches slants, outs, posts, gos. That 'go' route against Aqib Talib? It wasn't even close."

'All A-pluses'

But Prince was even more taken with Nelson's character than his football ability. The NFL has made a conscious effort to improve players' off-the-field conduct with stiff penalties, and McCarthy has talked frequently about wanting to add "Packer People" whose character is beyond reproach.

While two of the Packers' draft picks — fourth-round guard Josh Sitton in 2006 and fifth-round tackle Breno Giacomini in March — have been arrested for drunk driving, McGill said Nelson, a two-time captain, "was all A-pluses character-wise" in his background checks.

"Every little kid around Kansas has a purple No. 27 jersey. He's everything you'd want your son to be about," Prince said of Nelson, who is coming up on his one-year anniversary with wife Emily, a kindergarten teacher at Riley County Elementary. "He married his sixth-grade sweetheart, who was one of my kids' teachers two years ago. This is all Norman Rockwell, small-town stuff here. I hope my boys can grow up to be like Jordy."

That should allow him to blend in well in pro sports' smallest market, a thought that crossed Nelson's mind as his connecting flight from Minneapolis entered its final descent on Thursday.

"Flying in, it's very similar (to Kansas). I was seeing a lot of the farmland, a lot of agriculture," said Nelson, whose hometown of Riley, Kan., boasts a population of 886. "I'm excited for the opportunity, being from a small town and then coming to Green Bay instead going to a big market or New York. That would be really overwhelming for me. I like the fit. Hopefully, we'll be here for awhile."