Los Alamitos QB Malachi Nelson is Gatorade’s California player of the year, finalist for national award

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Los Alamitos quarterback and USC signee Malachi Nelson has been named the Gatorade California Football Player of the Year for the second time and is a finalist for Gatorade’s national player of the year award.

Nelson, who graduated from Los Alamitos in December so that he can enroll early at USC, also won Gatorade’s state player of the year honor as a sophomore during the coronavirus-shortened season in spring 2021.

The Gatorade award considers athletic performance as well as grades and character on and off the field.

This past season, Nelson played through injury to complete 67 percent of his passes for 2,898 yards and 35 TDs.

The winner of Gatorade’s national player of the year will be announced later this month. The other two finalists are Arch Manning, a quarterback from New Orleans, La., and Jackson Arnold, a quarterback from Denton, Texas.

Nelson led the Griffins (9-3) to a third consecutive, undefeated Sunset League title and a trip to the CIF-SS Division 1 semifinals, where they fell to Mater Dei.

Nelson was selected the Sunset League’s MVP and first-team All-County.

He maintained a 3.35 grade-point average and helped a Pop Warner league in Los Alamitos as a coach and with a donation from his NIL compensation.

“It was a good time to give back to the kids,” Nelson recently said of his outreach. “I did a deal with this car company and we were able to donate like $10,000 to the program.”