Lincoln Riley reacts to freshman QB Malachi Nelson entering transfer portal

Nothing should come as a surprise in this era of college football, even USC five-star freshman quarterback Malachi Nelson looking to the transfer portal after just one year in the program.

Reports circulated Sunday night that Nelson was expected to land in the portal soon, and by Monday afternoon it was official.

The freshman quarterback played only four snaps this season but that wasn't unexpected, as the plan was for him to take time recovering from surgery on his non-throwing shoulder that limited him through spring practice while learning behind star QB Caleb Williams and veteran backup Miller Moss.

USC coach Lincoln Riley addressed Nelson's departure Monday after practice.

"Yeah, that part’s difficult because the old-school in all of us has all the great memories of the guys that we coached that maybe weren’t ready in the beginning and they progressed and got better and you got to see the end of that. So yeah, it’s just part of it now," Riley said. "You know what I mean, it’s just part of the world of college football at this current time and I think for me and our coaches, the one thing that we’ve talked about, that we’ve talked about with our players is putting our energy into the people that are here."

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Nelson certainly isn't the only quarterback to start looking elsewhere so early in their college career -- it's becoming more and more common, and on Monday it was reported that UCLA five-star freshman QB Dante Moore had decided to transfer to Oregon.

Regarding Nelson, Riley had noted earlier this month that the highly-touted freshman experienced more injury setbacks through this year, beyond the initial shoulder recovery, that further stalled his development.

"Malachi is obviously a young guy, he’s got a world of talent, he’s working hard, he’s had a few physical hurdles he’s had to overcome, which has not been – it hasn’t necessarily been maybe the smoothest of years and a lot of it out of his control just trying to get back healthy where he can train and develop to the level that he wants to and we all want to," Riley said a couple weeks ago.

Given that and with Nelson looking raw in USC's spring game last April, it was expected the talented young QB would need more time to develop and he wasn't projected to be in the hunt for the starting job in 2024. With Williams moving onto the NFL (he hasn't made an official draft declaration but Riley has already confirmed the star QB has opted out of USC's bowl game and isn't with the team), his replacement is most likely going to be Moss or a likely transfer addition that Riley might bring in. (Kansas State QB transfer Will Howard visited USC over the weekend).

But Nelson would have had a prime chance to make a run at the job in 2025, even if five-star QB commit Julien Lewis reclassifies from the 2026 recruiting class, as has been speculated.

Riley seemed to hint at that Monday in his comments ...

"To your question earlier about the quarterbacks, you want to have guys who are hungry to get on the field right away but also guys that have a mind to be developed and have a good sense of reality," Riley said. "And I think that's kind of the niche that we're looking for because it always felt like development is one of the hallmarks of our program, one of the strengths that we have, but the other half of that -- you have to do your job, the other half of it is you have to have people who are willing to hang in there and go through what it really takes to develop and become a really good player at this level."

Nelson, from nearby Los Alamitos HS, was the No. 4-ranked pro-style quarterback and No. 14 overall national prospect in the 2023 recruiting class. He had committed to Riley initially at Oklahoma and then flipped his pledge to USC when Riley took over the Trojans.

It's unclear what prompted Nelson's decision to consider the transfer portal, but if it was USC's recruitment of Howard, the K-State transfer, it should have always been presumed that Riley would look to bring in another QB this offseason as the Trojans do not have a QB committed in this 2024 recruiting class and would otherwise have been left with three untested options in Moss, Nelson and former JUCO transfer Jake Jensen for 2024.

With Nelson's departure, USC now has new depth concerns at the position, even if it brings in Howard or another transfer QB.

Moss, meanwhile, was made available to reporters after practice Monday and noted that he didn't want to address other players' transfer decisions, but he did indulge a question about how his own decision to be patient and wait behind Williams has helped his development.

"I can't speak on other people's decisions, other people's processes -- obviously, they have to do what they think is best for them and their family," Moss said. "I think for me, anything that is worthwhile that you're going to have to go get that is difficult to go get -- which obviously we play a difficult sport, I play a difficult position, it's hard to win football games at this level -- like, it has to be earned. And if you turn and run or whatever it is at the first sign of adversity, like, you're never going to grow as a football player and as a human being as a whole. So that's kind of been my approach, and I think in the end, I'll definitely be better for it. I'm excited for future adversity as well."

To that point, Riley also said he and his staff will be adjusting what they prioritize in recruiting moving forward to find the players who fit that mentality of being committed to the development process.

"I would say that piece has even become a bigger part of our evaluation process in terms of kind of what we're targeting. I think this class upcoming has a ton of that," he said.

In general, Riley said he didn't begrudge any player's decision to transfer.

"Everybody kind of has their own reasons for wanting to look around, and at the end of the day, you’ve got to respect it," Riley said. "... And the reality is, for us, having people that are dying to be here at USC, that are dying to be USC Trojans is first and foremost and we’ve talked about it with these guys. ... We’re kind of caught in this period where transfer portal and NIL have even gone up a level in terms of kind of the craziness and the impact on it more than ever before. ...

"My energy goes into the people that are here. No bad blood, no ill will to anybody that’s not, but we’re going to move on with those that are dying to be USC Trojans, because at the end of the day, that’s the only way the history here turns around. Like, that’s the only way that some of the struggles in this program over the last 15 years turn around is going to be with people that are dying to be here and are passionate about this place. Because if not, you’re going to have this kind of constant back and forth, sometimes in and sometimes not in and a lot of times, there’s where mediocrity comes from. So we’re identifying the ones that want to be here, that want to do it and the ones that don’t, we certainly wish them the best."