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After earning the No. 1 spot in ESPN’s 2023 high school football recruiting rankings, Malachi Nelson picked up another big time honor on Friday, the Gatorade State Player of the Year Award.
Nelson was also named Gatorade State Player of the Year as a sophomore and his trophy case may continue to grow…
Nelson had a tremendous senior season for Los Alamitos High School (Calif.) leading the Griffins to a 9-3 record and the Division 1 Southern Section semifinals. The USC signee passed for 2,898 yards and 35 touchdowns in his final year of high school.
It was also announced on Friday that Nelson is up for the Gatorade National Player of the Year Award along with quarterbacks Arch Manning and Jackson Arnold, two other seniors. Manning, a University of Texas signee, played at Isidore Newman High School (New Orleans) and passed for 2,305 yards and 34 touchdowns this past season. Arnold, a University of Oklahoma signee, played at Guyer High School (Denton, Texas) and threw for 3,476 yards and 33 touchdowns.
The National Player of the Year Award winner will be announced later this month.
Before the Los Alamitos season, former Griffins Associate Head Coach Bruce Bible said this of Nelson:
“Malachi is our quarterback and leader. I think quite simply that he’s the best at what he does. We never go into a game worried with him at quarterback. The team has the utmost confidence in him and he shows it every day at practice.”
Nelson graduated from Los Alamitos early and will enroll at USC for the spring semester later this month.
