THE LATEST: UCLA Safety Kamari Ramsey Visiting USC
After UCLA handily defeated USC last month, we knew when Lincoln Riley hired a defensive coordinator and figured out the rest of the staff for 2024, the Trojans would have a busy offseason searching for roster upgrades from the Transfer Portal.
Although USC doesn’t have their defensive staff officially set as of December 13, they have offered a significant number of transfer targets. As of Wednesday night, we are aware of 25+ offers the Trojans have extended to transfers.
WeAreSC was told last week the Trojans feel pretty good about cornerback depth, but need a few Safeties. One Safety at the top of the USC transfer board is UCLA Safety Kamari Ramsey.
Ramsey played his prep ball at Sierra Canyon and was once a verbal commit to USC. He had about 40+ tackles in 2023 for Bruins, plus a few pass breakups.
Ramsey’s USC visit
Its was reported this week Ramsey would take official visits to Washington and Ohio State over the weekend. Of course that led to speculation from diehard USC fans about whether USC still had a shot.
On Wednesday night WeAreSC learned Ramsey planned visit USC prior to heading to Seattle (WA) and Columbus (OH). Ramsey’s visit began Thursday.
We’re also told the Huskies are coming after Ramsey hard, but so are the Trojans. Signing Ramsey will require a solid NIL opportunity.
Jan. 4 submission deadline
Guys planning to transfer have until January 4 to submit their name in the transfer portal. They do not need to sign prior to Jan. 4. So we expect many more to enter in the upcoming days and weeks. There will be another two week window in May when players wishing to transfer can enter the portal again.
Schools can’t offer transfer prospects until they’re officially in the portal, but Ramsey has begun that process and we expect USC to offer when he’s in. Hard to imagine USC not being in an extremely strong spot to sign Ramsey, after Lincoln Riley and company hired former Bruin defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn nearly two weeks ago.
Ramsey shared a few thoughts on why Lynn was able to pull of an exceptionally impressive turnaround this season with the UCLA defense. Last season the Bruins were about as bad as USC defensively, but this year ranked more than 100 spots higher. UCLA had the No. 1 ranked rushing defense in 2023 in the yards per game category (69.8).
“He has a great scheme that benefits everyone,” said Ramsey. “He is also an aggressive play caller and doesn’t allow the offense to dictate what the defense does. He brings pressure and gets the QB uncomfortable.”
Scott’s Thoughts
Based off what we’re hearing, it sounds like USC’s in a very good spot with Ramsey, but his commitment won’t be routine. The fact he’s taking visits to two other schools is significant, but we still believe the Trojans are in a good spot. We’ll obviously learn more this weekend.
