Tesoro Football Coach Arrested, Allegedly Smoked Heroin

Nick Nelson, a former athlete of the year at Tesoro High who is now the school's quarterback coach, was arrested and held on $20,000 bail after allegedly smoking heroin in a family residence and attempting to punch his brother.

According to Orange County Sheriff's Department logs, a woman contacted law enforcement on Friday at 12:53 a.m. and told 9-1-1 operators her son was smoking heroin in the bathroom of a Lake Forest residence. 

According to the woman, Nelson also got into an argument with his younger brother and tried to punch him. He then began packing a bag as if to leave, according to the report.

When taken into custody, Nikolas Dean Nelson, 26, identified himself as a coach. Early Wednesday morning, he was pictured and listed as the quarterbacks coach on the Tesoro football website.

According to the OCSD website, Nelson was being held at the Musick Men's Facility in Irvine.

The call came from the 22800 block of Islamare in Lake Forest.

As a schoolboy, Nelson helped lead Tesoro to a 20-5 record during his junior and senior seasons under then-coach Jim O'Connell. The Titans won a Southern Section Division IX football title during Nelson's senior season in 2004. 

According to Nelson's biography at the University of Colorado where he majored in sociology, he passed for 2,200 yards as a senior at Tesoro with 24 touchdowns and eight interceptions; he was a second-team selection to the All-Orange County team chosen by the Orange County Register. 

Nelson then went to Saddleback College, where J.C. Gridwire ranked him as the No. 12 junior college quarterback in the nation. The Gauchos were 11-1 during Nelson's sophomore season.  

He went to Colorado and played one season as a backup, completing three of six passes. 

This report was culled from the Orange County Sheriff's website. Not all facts in each report are made public; the outcome of the report, as well as the facts, may differ from the original blotter item. All items are alleged to have occurred. There should be no assumption of guilt based on this limited information.