College football recruiting: USC pledge Malachi Nelson makes surprise visit to Texas A&M

One of the top prospects in the 2023 college football recruiting class is on the road as 5-star quarterback Malachi Nelson is taking a surprise visit to Texas A&M, according to a report from TexAgs.com.

The news comes as a shock given that Nelson has already formally committed to Lincoln Riley and the USC Trojans.

ESPN recently moved Nelson up to No. 1 in the overall player rankings for 2023, ahead of Arch Manning, and retains a consensus 5-star rating across all services.

Nelson, a 6-foot-3 quarterback from Los Alamitos in California, informed USC and Riley that he would be visiting Texas A&M, according to reports.

Jimbo Fisher recently signed what 247Sports called the highest-rated recruiting class in college football history.

Nelson originally pledged to Oklahoma, but flipped to USC in November after the Trojans hired Riley away from the Sooners as head coach.

Riley's move had a domino effect across the transfer portal and recruiting landscape, as OU suffered several prominent de-commitments, including Nelson.

Analysts confirmed at the time that Nelson had committed more to Riley than Oklahoma, making the move to USC, closer to his hometown, much easier.

Though Nelson's visit to A&M seems a complete surprise, the quarterback remains an official USC commit as of Friday.

USC also earned the pledge of wide receiver Makai Lemon, a consensus 4-star player and teammate of Nelson at Los Alamitos, ranked as the No. 10 overall receiver in the 2023 recruiting class by On3 Sports.

Riley and the Trojans also signed consensus 5-star receiver Zachariah Branch from Vegas high school football factory Bishop Gorman. On3 ranks Branch as the No. 1 wide receiver in the 2023 class and the No. 4 overall player nationally.