Southern California transfer EDGE Sam Greene commits to Kentucky

Kentucky has added a pass rusher to the 2025 roster. After visiting Lexington this week, Southern California defensive end Sam Greene announced his commitment to the Wildcats on Saturday.

A former Top 500 recruit out of high school, Greene spent two seasons with the Trojans before entering his name into the transfer portal earlier this month. He appeared in just three games as a true freshman in 2023 before stepping into a larger role as a redshirt freshman in 2024. The 6-foot-1, 255-pound native of Baltimore (MD) St. Frances Academy will have three years of college eligibility remaining.

Greene played in all 12 games for USC during the 2024 regular season, finishing with 15 tackles, three tackles for loss, and one sack. But his production in the second half of the season saw a notable uptick. Across the Trojan’s final six games, Greene played at least 20 snaps in each outing while logging a career-high 35 snaps in a Week 10 road loss to Washington. During this stretch of extended playing time, he recorded 11 tackles, three tackles for loss, one sack, and nine pressures.

“Would project to play the Jack linebacker position in Kentucky’s 3-4 scheme,” KSR’s Adam Luckett wrote in his Bio Blast of Greene. “There are some length concerns but blend of power and high effort level on tape give the front seven defender a high floor.”

Georgia Tech and Minnesota also offered Greene once he put his name into the portal. A visit to Georgia Tech was scheduled for next week, but now that he’s committed to UK, that is unlikely to happen.