Former Los Alamitos quarterback Malachi Nelson expected to transfer from USC – Daily News

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 be walking into the sunset before he even had a shot at filling Williams’ shoes.

On Sunday night, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed a variety of reports Nelson was expected to enter the transfer portal, which would bring 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.”