Houston OL Transfer Cam’Ron Johnson Set for USC Official Visit
USC already signed three talented offensive line starters from two Power 5 programs this off-season: LT Michael Tarquin and IOL Ethan White from Florida and Jarrett Kingston from Washington St.
Could another be on the horizon?
Houston fifth-year guard Cam’Ron Johnson could be a good fit for the Trojans at one of the guard spots. It was announced he’d entered the NCAA Transfer Portal on March 8. Johnson now has a USC Official Visit set for April 21.
“They (USC) have a lot to offer, especially coming off their last season,” Johnson told WeAreSC Sunday morning. “They have some momentum going into this year. That’s very exciting and something I am excited to see.”
USC’s Offensive Line Depth
There’s been a pretty open competition this Spring, with Gino Quinones and Kingston earning the starting spots in USC’s April 15 Spring Game. If Johnson were to sign with the Trojans, he’d likely be the favorite to start Game 1 vs San Jose St on August 26.
Johnson is a two-year starter at Houston, and per Pro Football Focus he graded out at 67.5 percent in 2021 and 65.2 last year (including a 89.4 pass blocking grade this past season along with a 63.3 run blocking grade). He allowed only one sack in his 586 reps pass blocking in 2022.
While we don’t have details on what prompted the decision to transfer, Johnson says it “was a personal decision” leaving Houston.
“Just sitting down with my family and seeing how I can improve myself, I feel like I’ve kind of reached my ceiling at Houston,” Johnson said. “For me to take that next step and improve myself, this is what I needed to do.”
He adds that he will look at “the culture of the program and the guys in the program. I want to be around guys who are hungry, who want to win and love football. That’s what I want to be around.”
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.
Transfer Database and History
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.
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