The transfer portal was busy on the first day of March adding names from the USC Trojans. Defensive back Greg Johnson and wide receiver Velus Jones, according to reports from Ryan Abraham of USCFootball.com, are the newest entries to the NCAA transfer portal this offseason. That brings the offseason transfer portal total up to 10 players for the Trojans at this point in time.
Johnson was a four-star recruit in USC’s Class of 2017. The Los Angeles native played in 10 games for the Trojans last fall after sitting out the 2017 season with a redshirt. In those 10 games, Johnson recorded 15 tackles and broke up three passes. He will have three years of eligibility remaining but will have to sit out the 2019 season if he lands at another FBS program. Of course, he could always try filing for a waiver to be eligible this fall too and hope the NCAA grants him immediate eligibility.
Velus Jones is the 5th #USC wide receiver to enter the transfer portal. Wow. Trojans will only have 4 healthy wide receivers this spring. On the flip side with three DBs in the transfer portal there are likely only 4 healthy DBs to cover those receivers. #oneonones
— Ryan Abraham (@insidetroy) March 1, 2019
Jones was a three-star recruit in the Class of 2016. He has yet to find his role within the program though, and perhaps a change of scenery and a chance to break in with a new program will do him well. What makes this more troubling for USC is the Trojans now have seen four wide receivers enter the NCAA transfer portal, with Randal Grimes already having made his transfer to Minnesota official. And of course, this offseason was highlighted by the quick departure of early signing period commitment Bru McCoy, a five-star wide receiver, backing out of his decision to attend USC and later sign with Texas.
In all, there are at least 10 players currently showing up in the NCAA transfer portal from USC. Three players have officially moved on. A player in the transfer portal can officially make contact with other programs but is not necessarily officially gone from their current program. Players can withdraw their name from the portal at any time, as some players around the country have. We’ll have to wait and see how the rest of the players choosing to evaluate their options a bit more this offseason end up with their status at USC, but this has been quite a turbulent offseason for the Men of Troy.