5-Star USC Quarterback Malachi Nelson, The #1 Player In Last Year's Recruiting Class, Has Entered The Transfer Portal

Jesus Christ, I hate the transfer portal. I hated it before this news, and now I hate it even more. Why is this happening? Why is the #1 player in the 2023 class leaving USC when Caleb Williams is about to go pro and he can be the starter for the next 3 years before turning pro himself? And I'm pretty sure the answer is because Lincoln Riley has been scouring the transfer portal himself looking for someone better. Is this really because Will Howard is coming in from Kansas State to USC for next year as a rental.....? 

I really hope not. Forget NIL and conference realignment, it's the transfer portal that I hate most about college football right now. I miss the days of knowing who was on what team, seeing what was coming up, etc. Now it's a year by year rental process. If you're too good for your school, you leave. If you're not good enough for your school, you leave. And if you're just right for your school, you leave to find more money. I mean, Kyle McCord left Ohio State after going 11-1. Riley Leonard left Duke. Dante Moore is leaving UCLA. Cam Ward is leaving Washington State. And now Malachi Nelson is leaving USC. This whole thing sucks.

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Okay, let me pause from this blog to take a live look at Ryan Day sprinting to the airport in Columbus:

John Fisher. Getty Images.

This man better be on the first flight out of Ohio this morning. I don't know what the gameplan for next year is, but I assumed we had one when we encouraged Kyle McCord to walk out to the door to fucking Syracuse. But the longer this thing goes on, the more it appears that we might just be sticking with the guys in our current QB room, and that is not a good plan. Ohio State cannot let their starting QB walk out of the door without a set in stone, locked in commitment for his replacement.

Then again, Mark Titus is reporting that we've already got our guy:

Maybe it was Malachi Nelson all along…..? Or maybe it's Caleb Williams himself? Arch Manning? Cam Ward? Dante Moore? All I'm saying is it better be SOMEONE other than our backup from last yea….

Anyways, I can't believe what college football has become. I want to say tough break for USC and Lincoln Riley, but not really? Who cares if you don't have a QB of the future? This time next year they'll pick up the best QB in the transfer portal and play him for a year, and then do it again the following year.