Former Los Alamitos quarterback Malachi Nelson transfers out of USC
Nelson, one of the top quarterbacks in the class of 2023, has reportedly hit the transfer portal, a sign the Trojans could be bringing in their next quarterback
Malachi Nelson before USC/STAN game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles on Saturday, Sept 9, 2023. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Luca Evans (OC Register) — LOS ANGELES — He was supposed to be the heir apparent at Troy, taking the torch from Caleb Williams as Lincoln Riley’s hand-picked next protege.
Instead, Malachi Nelson appears to have walked into the sunset before he even had a shot at filling Williams’ shoes.
On Sunday night, reports surfaced from 247 Sports that Nelson had entered the transfer portal, a surprising and sudden end to the tenure of one of Riley’s biggest recruiting wins since taking the head-coaching job at USC. Nelson was widely regarded as one of the top quarterbacks in the class of 2023 after a standout career at Los Alamitos, committing to USC after throwing for 39 touchdowns his junior year with the Griffins.
His freshman year, though, never much got going as a Trojan, looking spotty in cap and then spending the season mired on the scout-team and third on the depth chart behind Williams and backup Miller Moss. He battled injuries for much of the year, Riley alluded in December, but seemed to have a path to chase a starting job with Williams likely heading for the NFL Draft and left to compete with Moss.
“He’s certainly going to get there and certainly has a bright future and has battled for a lot of things,” Riley said in early December. “So we’re eager to get him back completely healthy and back to where he’s developing on a really fast track and I don’t think he’s that far away from it, but that’s still been a little bit of a process.”
It’ll be an unfinished process, as Nelson leaves in a potential harbinger of things to come. As Riley made it clear USC would “look in the portal at some quarterbacks,” the coach said two weeks ago, Kansas State transfer quarterback Will Howard posted on his Instagram story a video of him on a visit to the Coliseum this weekend — amid ceaseless buzz Howard could step into Williams’ vacated starting role.
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