Malachi and I have talked a few times this week for several stories. This is what we discussed about his shoulder surgery and what it means for spring practice and fall camp.
USC.rivals.com
HONOLULU -- USC five-star freshman quarterback Malachi Nelson is one of six players representing the Trojans at the Polynesian Bowl -- the final high school football all-star game of the circuit -- but Nelson isn't throwing any passes this week in Hawaii.
He's recovering from surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left non-throwing shoulder that he underwent at the conclusion of his senior season with Los Alamitos HS. He expects to be far enough along to be active in some regard by the start of USC's spring practice in a couple months and to be fully cleared by the start of the season.
In the meantime, he's spent this week watching his new Trojans teammates Zachariah Branch and Makai Lemon catch passes, spent one of the practices playing photographer and has been talking to uncommitted five-star tight end Duce Robinson to continue the USC recruiting push there.
"Obviously, going into college it's hard to be in a sling, for sure. It's like torture. I want to be out there with my guys," Nelson told TrojanSports.com. "I still am, but it's just a little harder from the sidelines. But I'm ready to get back and get going, get rolling whenever I'm healthy."
The injury happened the second to last game of Nelson's junior season at Los Alamitos as he got tackled and dislocated that left shoulder. He said it's dislocated about five more times since then, but he didn't want to have the surgery at a time that would keep him out of all the competitive 7-on-7 tournaments, national camp circuit and of course his senior season.
"I ended up tearing my labrum like junior year so I played my whole senior year with a torn labrum and decided after that to fix it. Now it's just recovery time," he said. "I'll be throwing this spring and full recovery by season. It needed to be done. I'd rather get it done now than be a problem later.
"I could have made a decision to do it before the [2022 high school] season, miss my whole season, but I couldn't do that to my team and to my family, my coaches who invested so much in me. I had to fight through it."
Even though the injury didn't directly affect his passing ability, it was nonetheless a constant obstacle he had to work through.
"It would dislocate at any given time, dislocate in my sleep. The labrum was torn and the labrum is what holds your shoulder in place. Just got to fight through it," he said.
Nelson officially moved into campus last week. He's rooming with Lemon, his lifelong friend and HS teammate, all the while settling into college football life.
While he'll be behind returning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams this year, Nelson is hoping to compete for the backup quarterback job with redshirt sophomore Miller Moss. And that work has already begun, even if he's not out throwing passes to his teammates yet.
"It's been good. It's a blessing to be in that position and be able to learn from some of those guys that are there, the coaches, start that next journey," Nelson said. "It's a new locker room, new place, new environment that you're not used to. So I feel like I've definitely got to go in there, like I said, go work hard, keep my mouth shut, earn the respect of the players and kind of win that locker room, really trust the people around me."
When he gets back from Hawaii, he'll rejoin USC's offseason strength and conditioning program. Even if he's not able to go through all the workouts, he reiterated it's just as important that he's there at the crack of dawn with his teammates going through it to whatever extent he can.
"I'm doing as much as I can. I want to be in there with the team, show them that I still want to be there. I'm planning on being the leader of this team and picking it up when Caleb's gone, so yeah, it's been big for me just to be in there. I'm still at the workouts at 5 a.m., I'm still there with the team. I can't really do anything, but I'm still there," he said.
"... It's been big just to be there with my team, show them I'm doing whatever I can. I'm on the ground doing sit-ups if I have to do that while they're doing pushups just to show them I really care and this is really important to me."
TrojanSports - USC freshman QB Malachi Nelson talks timeline on shoulder surgery recovery
USC freshman QB Malachi Nelson shares the latest on his recovery timeline from surgery on his non-throwing shoulder.
USC.rivals.com
HONOLULU -- USC five-star freshman quarterback Malachi Nelson is one of six players representing the Trojans at the Polynesian Bowl -- the final high school football all-star game of the circuit -- but Nelson isn't throwing any passes this week in Hawaii.
He's recovering from surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left non-throwing shoulder that he underwent at the conclusion of his senior season with Los Alamitos HS. He expects to be far enough along to be active in some regard by the start of USC's spring practice in a couple months and to be fully cleared by the start of the season.
In the meantime, he's spent this week watching his new Trojans teammates Zachariah Branch and Makai Lemon catch passes, spent one of the practices playing photographer and has been talking to uncommitted five-star tight end Duce Robinson to continue the USC recruiting push there.
"Obviously, going into college it's hard to be in a sling, for sure. It's like torture. I want to be out there with my guys," Nelson told TrojanSports.com. "I still am, but it's just a little harder from the sidelines. But I'm ready to get back and get going, get rolling whenever I'm healthy."
The injury happened the second to last game of Nelson's junior season at Los Alamitos as he got tackled and dislocated that left shoulder. He said it's dislocated about five more times since then, but he didn't want to have the surgery at a time that would keep him out of all the competitive 7-on-7 tournaments, national camp circuit and of course his senior season.
"I ended up tearing my labrum like junior year so I played my whole senior year with a torn labrum and decided after that to fix it. Now it's just recovery time," he said. "I'll be throwing this spring and full recovery by season. It needed to be done. I'd rather get it done now than be a problem later.
"I could have made a decision to do it before the [2022 high school] season, miss my whole season, but I couldn't do that to my team and to my family, my coaches who invested so much in me. I had to fight through it."
Even though the injury didn't directly affect his passing ability, it was nonetheless a constant obstacle he had to work through.
"It would dislocate at any given time, dislocate in my sleep. The labrum was torn and the labrum is what holds your shoulder in place. Just got to fight through it," he said.
Nelson officially moved into campus last week. He's rooming with Lemon, his lifelong friend and HS teammate, all the while settling into college football life.
While he'll be behind returning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams this year, Nelson is hoping to compete for the backup quarterback job with redshirt sophomore Miller Moss. And that work has already begun, even if he's not out throwing passes to his teammates yet.
"It's been good. It's a blessing to be in that position and be able to learn from some of those guys that are there, the coaches, start that next journey," Nelson said. "It's a new locker room, new place, new environment that you're not used to. So I feel like I've definitely got to go in there, like I said, go work hard, keep my mouth shut, earn the respect of the players and kind of win that locker room, really trust the people around me."
When he gets back from Hawaii, he'll rejoin USC's offseason strength and conditioning program. Even if he's not able to go through all the workouts, he reiterated it's just as important that he's there at the crack of dawn with his teammates going through it to whatever extent he can.
"I'm doing as much as I can. I want to be in there with the team, show them that I still want to be there. I'm planning on being the leader of this team and picking it up when Caleb's gone, so yeah, it's been big for me just to be in there. I'm still at the workouts at 5 a.m., I'm still there with the team. I can't really do anything, but I'm still there," he said.
"... It's been big just to be there with my team, show them I'm doing whatever I can. I'm on the ground doing sit-ups if I have to do that while they're doing pushups just to show them I really care and this is really important to me."
