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5-Star Plus+ QB Malachi Nelson, 4-star WR Makai Lemon visiting USC

PeterWarrenPhoto2by: Peter Warren12/02/21thepeterwarren
Malachi Nelson:Makai Lemon
Courtesy of Malachi Nelson

Two of the best players in the 2023 cycle, Los Alamitos (Calif.) High teammates and lifelong friends Malachi Nelson and Makai Lemon made a visit Wednesday to USC‘s Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Nelson is a Five-Star Plus+ quarterback, the top player from the state of California and the No. 3 overall recruit in the country, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Lemon is the No. 41 player in the country and the fourth-best player in California.

Both were Oklahoma commits just a few days ago but both decommitted from the school in wake of Lincoln Riley‘s move from Oklahoma to USC.

Nelson decommitted Sunday and Lemon decommitted Tuesday.

“When I committed to Oklahoma, a big part of that was my connection to (wide receivers coach Dennis) Simmons and coach Riley, so with those two at USC, I needed to do this,” Lemon told On3’s Chad Simmons.

In total, seven players have backed off their commits from the Sooners, with Lemon and Nelson being two of the biggest names of the group.

Nelson also became the first player to officially flip from Oklahoma to the Trojans, announcing his commitment Tuesday.

He told Simmons that it was an easy decision to make after talking with Riley. USC was Nelson’s first love and he said it is a dream come true to be able to play there.

“He is excited about USC,” Nelson said. “Coach Riley can do big things at USC and I want to be right there with him.”

It is widely expected that Lemon will follow Riley and Nelson to USC. It iss also expected that their high school teammate, four-star wide receiver DeAndre Moore, would decommit and go to USC as well. However, he has not done so yet and has instead tweeted he is remaining committed to the Sooners.