Former 5-Star Malachi Nelson Has Gone From Presumed Caleb Williams Successor at USC to Losing the QB Battle at Boise State

It's been a rough start to a career for Malachi Nelson, who went to USC last year as a 5-star prospect and the seeming heir to Lincoln Riley's offense upon Caleb Williams's departure, but has since transferred to Boise State after being beat out by Miller Moss in Los Angeles and has now lost yet another position battle at his new school. Nelson was part of the group of 2023 quarterbacks that included Arch Manning, Nico Iamaleava, Dante Moore and Jackson Arnold, but he's clearly a pretty distant fifth right now.

Obviously every 5-star quarterback comes into college with a lot of hype, but even guys who don't really live up to their ranking at least end up being ok. Nelson could potentially turn things around and have a fine career, but being beat out by the No. 110-ranked QB in the 2022 class is a tough blow to the résumé.

It sucks that we still likely won't see anything from Manning this season, but we should learn a lot more about the 2023 quarterback class with Iamaleava and Arnold taking over for teams looking to be in the College Football Playoff. It's probably safe to say at this point that Nelson doesn't need to worry about any conversation of who the best from that class will end up being, though.