BREAKING: USC lands commitment from UCLA DB Kamari Ramsey

USC has added an immediate impact player through the transfer portal and they did not have to go far to find this one. Former UCLA defensive back Kamari Ramsey has announced his commitment to USC.

Ramsey chose the USC over Washington and Ohio State, who both made pushes when he entered the transfer portal.

Ramsey is one of the top overall players in the transfer portal this offseason. He is currently ranked as the No. 1 safety and No. 19 overall prospect to enter the portal, according to the On3 Industry Rankings.

Obviously coming from UCLA, he is re-joining defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn, who the Trojans hired away from the Bruins earlier this month.

Ramsey gave WeAreSC a comment on Lynn previously.

“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.”

The opportunity to team up with him made USC a favorite the moment he announced he was entering the portal. He then took an official visit to the Trojans on Dec. 15.

Ramsey provides USC with a playmaker

In his first season with Lynn, Ramsey became a standout. He finished the 2023 season with 40 tackles, 4 passes defended and one interception

Over the last two seasons, the now-former Bruins defensive back amassed 45 total tackles, 4 passes defended and one interception. He flashed his innate ability, and will be looking to continue doing that for the Trojans.

The former Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) star was a coveted four-star, top-200 recruit from the class of 2022 and he redshirted in his freshman season, so he’ll have three years of eligibility available to the Trojans.

Other transfers to USC

Since the start of December, USC has added six other commitments from the transfer portal, and that number is only expected to grow in the coming days and weeks.

The Trojans have gained the commitments o former Mississippi State cornerback DeCarlos Nicholson, former Mississippi State runner Jo’Quavious “Woody” Marks, former Oregon State linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold, former Oregon State defensive back Akili Arnold, former Vanderbilt defensive lineman Nate Clifton, and former Michigan State long snapper Hank Pepper.

Transfer portal background information 

The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.

The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.

Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.

The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.

A player can ask that a “do not contact” tag be placed on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want to be contacted by schools unless they’ve initiated the communication.

The portal has been around since Oct. 15, 2018 and the new calendar cycle within the portal begins each August. For example, the 2021-22 cycle started Aug. 1. During the 2020-21 cycle, 2,626 FBS football players entered the transfer portal (including walk-ons). That comes after 1,681 entered during the 2019-20 cycle and 1,709 during the abbreviated 2018-19 cycle. In comparison, 1,833 Division I basketball players entered the portal during the 2020-21 cycle after totals of 1,020 in 2019-20 and 1,063 in 2018-19.