USC adds former Ohio State safety Bryson Shaw from transfer portal

Lincoln Riley and the USC Trojans are shoring up the defense with a new safety addition via the transfer portal. Former Ohio State Buckeye Bryson Shaw is transferring to USC, his father shared on Twitter on Sunday. The sophomore hit the portal three weeks ago.

“I wanted to let everyone know that my son Bryson has committed to the University of Southern California Trojans to continue his college football career,” Shaw’s father tweeted. “All the best to our extended family at OSU.”

Starting in 12 of the 13 games last season for the Buckeyes, Shaw was a key member of the defense for former Ohio State defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs.

Shaw recorded 59 tackles and 0.5 tackles for a loss while defending four passes. He finished third on the team in total tackles. He also had an interception against the Michigan Wolverines. As a defensive newcomer, he played minimally in 2020 and 2019. Now, he’ll be immediately eligible to contribute to the team Riley is building in Los Angeles.

Shaw was a three-star prospect coming out of high school, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting services. He ranked as the No. 61 safety in the country and No. 9 player from his home state of Maryland in the 2019 recruiting class.

Riley addresses where USC needs to make additions to roster

The USC spring game wrapped up on Saturday and over 33,000 Trojan fans packed the Coliseum. The 33,247 fans in attendance set a Trojans’ spring game record. Following the game, Riley spoke with ESPN’s Molly McGrath about how the Trojans are still not done bringing in key pieces from the transfer portal.

“Well, we’ve got to add some numbers, we know that,” Riley said. “But, I’ll tell you what, the guys right here, we can go win a lot of games with. I love the way that they’ve fought. We’ll add some key pieces here in the next several weeks. But these guys have set the foundation and that’s what matters.”

It will be interesting to see what other top-tier prospects Riley reels in from the transfer portal. He already reeled in the nation’s No. 1 overall prospect in the transfer portal according to the 2022 On3 Transfer Portal Rankings, Caleb Williams.