USC Football to sign Texas RB transfer Keaontay Ingram

The USC football program has found another playmaker on offense, Keaontay Ingram. The former Texas Longhorns running back committed to the Trojans Tuesday afternoon via Twitter. He joins Colorado transfer K.D. Nixon as the second offensive addition from the transfer portal in the last week.

A true all-purpose playmaker, the 6-foot-1, 190-pound Ingram brings a wealth of experience to a Trojan backfield seemingly in the midst of a transition. While seniors Stephen Carr and Vavae Malepaei are currently expected to return for their fifth and sixth years, respectively, everything about the embattled run game is in flux.

After being dead last in the Pac-12 in rushing, head coach Clay Helton brought in an offensive line coach with air raid experience —Clay McGuire of the Mike Leach tree— and the transfer of Nebraska-bound Markese Stepp had left a vacancy on the roster. Enter Ingram, who joins junior Kenan Christon and incoming freshman Brandon Campell as backs anxious to see a change atop the depth chart.

The Carthage, Tex. product was the sixth-rated running back in the 2018 recruiting class had immediate success with the Longhorns, before turmoil during the pandemic-affected 2020 football campaign saw Ingram opt-out midseason.

In three years with Texas, Ingram rushed for 1,811 yards and gained 2,326 total yards from scrimmage, including two near-identical seasons out of the gate as a freshman and sophomore. No one in burnt orange reached the end zone more in 2019, when he scored 10 touchdowns.

Ingram is the most high-profile running back transfer to commit to the Trojans since Silas Redd skipped Penn State for LA in 2012. That experiment had its moments. Can Ingram provide a similar impactful season in 2021? We'll see. He's got two years to play two.