Malachi Nelson picked the proverbial USC hat from the table and joined Lincoln Riley in the Trojans 2023 class shortly after the head coach landed in Los Angeles. But the hat he wears now isn’t that of a commit; it’s that of a recruiter.

At the Elite 11 Finals, the No. 2 overall prospect in the cycle spoke with 247Sports’ Greg Biggins about recruiting to USC, being part of the Trojans’ massive recent weekend, and who he thinks will be eventually join the class with him.

“I was stoked to be up there. Obviously I’ve been up there a lot and Coach Riley and I have talked and (he’s) listed some guys we’ve got to try and recruit. To finally meet these guys, shake their hands, show them around L.A., it’s hard for these guys to say, ‘No, I don’t want to go here.’ You know?

“Even when we were back at Oklahoma and it’s a little bit more difficult to get guys to come to Norman but we had started building a class there. When he made the move and I made the move and we started building this class, we’ve got a solid shell around now that we can start recruiting.”

Nelson was asked for one uncommitted prospect he feels good will eventually end up a future teammate of his and he smiled. “I’ve got a list of guys,” he said.

USC currently has the No. 1 class in the Pac-12 and the 12th-ranked class nationally. Two weekends ago, USC hosted a group of more than 20 official visitors on campus that included more than a dozen 4- and 5-star prospects.

Pressed for one name, Nelson offered up 5-star Phoenix (Ariz.) Pinnacle tight end Duce Robinson as a player to keep an eye on.

As July 4 nears, sounds like USC could have plenty of fireworks.