It has certainly been a wild journey for former USC quarterback Malachi Nelson. A five-star recruit in the Class of 2023, Nelson redshirted his first year on campus as the third-stringer behind Caleb Williams and Miller Moss. Following the season, however, Nelson decided to leave the program and transfer to Boise State.
Last year, Nelson was beaten out for the Broncos’ starting job by Maddux Madsen. After Madsen led Boise State to the College Football Playoff, Nelson elected to hit the transfer portal once again. Now, he heads to El Paso, Texas, where he will play the 2025 season for UTEP.
In an interview with 247Sports Wednesday, UTEP head coach Scotty Walden discussed Nelson and his search for a fresh start with the program.
“Malachi is as talented as anyone I’ve ever coached,” Walden said. “His arm talent is unbelievable. Now that he’s here, I can see the game slowing down for him this summer, so that’s been good to see. I can’t speak for when he was recruited at USC or anything like that, but what I found so impressive about him in the recruiting process and even with him now was his humility,” Walden said. “He’s got a lot of humility. This guy genuinely loves ball. He wants to be the best. He knows when he does well and he knows when he needs to do better. I’ve been super impressed with his work ethic. I look at him in the weight room.
“When we recruited him, I called Kliff (Kingsbury), I called Lincoln (Riley) and I called Spencer Danielson at Boise and asked them all separately, because we do boot camp here: ‘We’re going to do mat drills and get after it. Is he going to want to do that or is he going to be into that?’ They all said we wouldn’t have any problems with that, and that’s the truth. That kid came in, and when he gets in his competitive mode, he’s a dog. His body has transformed. He looks great…
Source link : https://trojanswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/2025/07/24/utep-coach-scotty-walden-former-usc-quarterback-malachi-nelson/85347896007/
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Publish date : 2025-07-24 13:45:00
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