Report: Utah, former USC transfer DB Briton Allen commits to Miami

Former Utah defensive back Briton Allen has committed to Miami, via the NCAA Transfer Portal, per 247Sports’ Gaby Urrutia. Allen began his career at USC before transferring to Utah ahead of the 2023 campaign.

Allen played in six games for the Utes, but ultimately failed to establish himself in the team’s secondary rotation. In his lone campaign for Utah, Allen tallied six tackles. Allen entered the transfer portal after the 2023 season, but ultimately didn’t find a home and sat out the 2024 campaign.

The 2025 season will be Allen’s seventh at the collegiate level. He began his collegiate career in the 2019 campaign at USC, where he spent four total seasons. Allen saw limited action in his freshman and sophomore seasons, and didn’t play at all in his final two years with the program due to injury issues.

Briton Allen played high school football at IMG Academy (FL), where he was a three-star prospect. Allen was the No. 405 overall player and No. 40 safety in the 2019 recruiting cycle, according to the Rivals Industry Ranking.

Allen was ranked as the No. 223 safety in On3’s 2025 Transfer Portal Player Rankings. He’ll look to finish his collegiate career strong at Miami. The Hurricanes’ secondary was a weak point in the team’s defense last season.

Miami allowed 214.4 passing yards per game last season (57th nationally). In contrast, Miami only gave up 112.8 rushing yards per game (19th nationally).

Miami is returning two starting cornerbacks from last season, but none of its starting safeties. Allen could immediately make an impact for the Hurricanes at a position where they lack experience. After all, every player has an equal chance of making an impact on Miami’s defense this season.

This offseason, the Hurricanes hired Corey Hetherman to be their defensive coordinator. He was Minnesota‘s defensive coordinator last year, helping the Golden Gophers to have the No. 5 defense in the country. Miami head coach Mario Cristobal is confident Hetherman will bring similar success to the Hurricanes.

“Certainly, after Week 4 last year, we took a downturn,” Cristobal said at ACC Media Days. “We slipped defensively. And I don’t want to blame anybody. I always look at myself and say, ‘What could I have done better?’ We had some injuries that led to some schematic changes that weren’t the best for our football program, so a change had to be made. And we found a guy in Corey Hetherman.

“It’s not the fact that he was a highly-coveted guy, it’s the fact that he is an elite teacher and human being, and a guy who really does really well what we need our defense to do and to be. His use of personnel, his ability to adapt, his track record and his productivity, particularly last year at Minnesota, was enough evidence for us to feel comfortable in bringing him in, and he hasn’t disappointed.”