Former Texas football RB Keaontay Ingram transfers to USC

What is likely to be a drama filled offseason in the NCAA Transfer Portal for the Texas football program really kicked into high gear this week. Recently hired Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian is going to likely very actively reshape his roster throughout this offseason. He has already done the same with the coaching staff surrounding him.

Maybe the most notable loss to the transfer portal entering the offseason for the Longhorns (and at the time head coach Tom Herman) was junior running back Keaontay Ingram. It definitely was not an immediate decision for the former highly coveted four-star recruit Ingram as to where he wanted to take his talents to next after putting his name in the transfer portal.

Ingram didn’t even make it through the full 2020 season before the rumors started pouring out that he was going to enter the transfer portal. The departure of now former fourth-year head coach Herman was likely the nail in the coffin of the Longhorns keeping Ingram around on the Forty Acres heading into the 2021 offseason.

On his Twitter timeline on the afternoon of Jan. 26, Ingram announced his intentions to take his talents to join head coach Clay Helton and the USC Trojans in 2021. He will get to join a few former Texas assistants on Herman’s staff at USC in defensive coordinator Todd Orlando and fellow assistant Craig Naivar.

Former Texas football RB Keaontay Ingram and USC

The USC running back room could really be stacked in 2021. They are likely to get back Stephen Carr and Kenan Christian, with Ingram now added to the mix.

During the 2020 regular season, Ingram played in  just six games for the Longhorns. He registered 250 rushing yards (4.7 yards per carry), one rushing touchdown, 103 receiving yards (9.4 yards per catch), and one receiving touchdown.

In total in bits and pieces of three years playing for Texas, Ingram registered 1,811 rushing yards (5.3 yards per carry), 11 rushing touchdowns, 515 receiving yards (7.7 yards per catch), and six receiving touchdowns.

When he was coming out of Carthage High School during the 2018 recruiting cycle, Ingram ranked as the nation’s No. 164 2018 high school prospect, No. 6 running back, and No. 15 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite). And the Top247 ranked him as the nation’s No. 198 high school prospect, No. 7 running back, and No. 22 prospect out of Texas.

Texas finished up the 2020 season with a record of 7-3 (5-3 Big 12), under the direction of their now former head coach Herman. And USC finished up the 2020 season with a record of 5-1, including a loss to the Oregon Ducks in the PAC-12 Championship Game last month.