The reality of being a head coach means talking to the media about the status of players and position groups. This inevitably means offering a certain amount of commentary on how well players are — or aren’t — progressing in their development.
Coaches obviously don’t want to give away the store and reveal everything possible about various players’ situations, but they can’t say “no comment” without ceasing over the course of a full season. In specific, sensitive moments, they might no-comment a reporter just because saying anything at all might be radioactive and might get taken the wrong way, but at some point, they will have to share at least some details on how well a player is moving through the program.
When we consider the reality that Malachi Nelson is entering the transfer portal and will leave USC, people will wonder if Lincoln Riley did or said anything to make Nelson want to leave.
Being realistic: Riley didn’t offend Nelson in any way, but the simple reality of the quarterback situation is that Nelson was clearly behind Miller Moss, and an incoming transfer is very much in play. Nelson clearly saw he would not play in 2024 and that there were no guarantees he would play in 2025.
Anyone in Nelson’s position probably would have come to the same conclusion he reached, and would have transferred to a program where he can play in 2024.
Riley never did throw Nelson under the bus. The situation simply wasn’t good for Nelson, in part because of injuries Riley himself referenced, as you can see below:
Here was the full quote from Lincoln Riley on USC QB’s Miller Moss and Malachi Nelson.
I asked what the addition of a transfer portal QB would mean for the two of them. pic.twitter.com/bHyR8REPUQ
— Ryan Kartje (@Ryan_Kartje) December 4, 2023
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