The amount of news stories at USC football has skyrocketed over the past 72 hours. Coaching staff changes, transfer portal decisions and movements, plus recruiting decisions are creating a tidal wave of developments. The structure of USC’s 2024 roster is undergoing massive upheaval. It is not an enviable position for USC to inhabit. Yet, it is a necessary product of the failures witnessed during the 2023 season.
Lincoln Riley had to make dramatic changes to his defensive coaching staff. An incoming defensive coordinator was always going to insist on having people he personally felt comfortable with. This was going to lead to a lot of churn and tumult.
Yet, as pervasive as those changes were, they didn’t have anything to do with the offensive side of the ball.
Lincoln Riley had a separate problem to deal with here, and this one could not be lumped in with the theme of 2023 failures creating 2024 changes.
This was a problem created by nothing other than a roster complication.
With Caleb Williams leaving the USC program to pursue his NFL dream, Miller Moss will play in the Holiday Bowl against Louisville as an audition for his 2024 college football season. Malachi Nelson was unable to overtake Moss for the primary backup role. As soon as Lincoln Riley paid a visit to Kansas State transfer quarterback Will Howard, it became clear to Nelson that he wasn’t going to play in 2024. He entered the transfer portal, and there wasn’t a whole lot Lincoln Riley could do about it.
Riley reacted to Nelson’s decision on Monday. Here’s what he said:
Lincoln Riley on QB Malachi Nelson transferring …
“That part’s difficult because the old-school in all of us had all the great memories of the guys that we coached that maybe weren’t ready in the beginning and they progressed and got better and you got to see the end of that.” pic.twitter.com/QjGT8k3ICW
— Ryan Young (@RyanYoungRivals) December 19, 2023
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