Malachi Nelson reps USC football on field, quiets decommitting rumors

Before five-star USC Football QB commit Malachi Nelson (all recruiting ratings and rankings in article are as of 247Sports) absolutely thrashed Garces Memorial High School on Friday night, it was revealed that he was wearing a USC headband underneath his helmet. So much for the rumors that Nelson is seriously considering a flip to Texas A&M.

He did take an unofficial visit to A&M recently, but he's committed to Lincoln Riley twice in his recruitment. Once at Oklahoma, and once at USC. So, while he has been prone to flipping in the past, he's flipped his commitment to Riley. He clearly wants to play for him very badly, and it's just not worth worrying about him committing to the Aggies until actual news of a decommitment happens.

And that USC headband clearly gave him a bit of a boost, as it didn't take long for Nelson to start savagely destroying the Rams in the game. In just the first half, Nelson went 14 of 15 for 345 yards(!) and five touchdowns. He ended up finishing the beatdown with a win for him and his Los Alamitos squad 41-0.

2023 USC Football Quarterback commit Malachi Nelson showed why he's the No. 1 recruit in the entire state of California.

And not only that, but USC Football's '23 QB in Malachi Nelson is also the No. 2 QB in the nation behind only Arch Manning. Nelson is also the No. 2 overall recruit in the country behind Manning. Besides, many analysts believe that if Manning wasn't the nephew of SEC and NFL Titans Peyton and Eli Manning, he would be ranked lower than Nelson.

Heck, ESPN already got started on that and ranked Nelson as the No. 1 player in the nation for this 2023 class. Regardless of whether one already has him ahead of Manning or not, though, that 6'4"--180 lb frame is going to be perfect for USC to work with in the weight room. He won't need to start until 2024 at the earliest, so he'll have AT LEAST a year in a college weight room to fill out.

The arm talent's already top-tier, and he can throw from various different arm angles. Having enough athleticism to burn defenses with his legs, he's incredibly difficult to defend. The only hole in his game (maybe) is the fact that he threw a pick once every 31.6 pass attempts on average up through his junior year, but that's not bad and not alarming. Just something he could work on.

He's an elite talent in all other aspects of his game, though, and is off to quite an amazing start to his senior year. Doing it in USC gear just makes it all the sweeter for Trojan fans.