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Former 5-star quarterback finally gets his chance to prove he's not a bust at UTEP

ByNicholas Rome|
UTEP sophomore quarterback Malachi Nelson looks to pass the ball during spring practice at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, on Friday, April 4, 2025.
UTEP sophomore quarterback Malachi Nelson looks to pass the ball during spring practice at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, on Friday, April 4, 2025. | Gaby Velasquez/ El Paso Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Recruiting is far from an exact science as coaches can only make educated guesses based on who will pan out and the recruiting experts can only predict how well a recruit may turn out to be as a player. Every 5-star recruit doesn't end up being a first round pick in the NFL Draft especially at the quarterback position. When a quarterback doesn't live up to the hype, it's hard to blame the coaches or the recruiting service as even the NFL struggles to judge quarterbacks.

Coming out of High School, every recruiting service agreed that Malachi Nelson was a 5-star talent as ESPN ranked him their top player in the class while the lowest he was ranked was as the 30th player in the class. When Nelson signed with the USC Trojans he seemed to be on the fast track to superstardom as a 5-star talent playing for Lincoln Riley.

After spending one season as a backup to Caleb Williams, Nelson surprisingly entered the Transfer Portal landing at Boise State. When the Power 4 schools didn't come calling for a former 5-star quarterback it was clear that the schools weren't as high on Nelson as everyone originally was.

Despite being a 5-star talent at Boise State, the job wasn't given to Malachi Nelson as Maddux Madsen won the competition for the role. After spending a year at Boise State, Nelson was once again on the move looking for somewhere he could play as soon as possible.

On Thursday, it was revealed that Nelson would finally get the chance to prove himself as the UTEP Miners announced he'd be their starting quarterback.

Thus far, Malachi Nelson has been declared a bust by many but, as he finally gets the chance to start he'll have a chance to change the perception of himself. Between his two stops, Malachi Nelson is 13 for 20 passing for 128 yards and 1 interception. If Malachi Nelson can come in and impress for UTEP, he'll have a chance to lead the team on an exciting season and could set himself up to make the jump back to the Power 4 next season.

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