Young USC defensive back to miss all of 2024 season with an injury

For the first week's worth of practices, USC's fall camp has been full of positivity and encouraging updates. That took a turn in the opposite direction on Friday.

Head coach Lincoln Riley announced that redshirt freshman Maliki Crawford will miss the season after suffering an injury in practice a few days ago. That is disappointing news for a player who had shown great progress in the offseason.

"Obviously, hate that for him," Riley said. "But we'll get him rehabbed, get him fixed up, and get him back, obviously, next season."

Nelson was a 4-star signee in the class of 2023. According to 247Sports.com, he was the No. 171 overall player and No. 17 cornerback in his class.

The Oxnard, California native was the highest-ranked corner that USC signed in 2023. However, he did not see the field last season as he took a redshirt year.

Now, he will have to wait another year to make an impact. It was expected that he would play some backup snaps this fall and establish himself as part of the two-deep rotation.

The 6-foot-4, 180-pound corner is intriguing because of his size. Finding corners with that type of height is difficult so USC fans have been excited about what Crawford could eventually become. That's why this news is a bit of a bummer.

The good news, though, is that Riley also said that the rest of his team is healthy with no serious injuries. Several players have been held out of recent practices due to minor bumps and bruises but none have serious injuries to contend with.

As for Crawford, he had shown improvement during the offseason, and especially in USC's spring game. Of course, for a program as starved for defensive reinforcements as that Trojans are, losing a talented young player for the season is less than ideal. However, Crawford was not expected to compete for a starting job and there remain plenty of options at corner for Riley and Co. this year.