Transfer Portal Bio Blast: Sam Greene

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USC defensive ends Kameryn Fountain and Sam Greene combine on a tackle for the Trojans during a game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (acscottphotography/WeAreSC)

The winter transfer portal window officially opened on Monday. We’ve seen some heavy player movement and are expecting more over the next few days. Teams are working rapidly to get targets on campus for visits over the next few weeks to close these fast-paced recruitments.

Kentucky has locked in a visit with a second EDGE prospect.

Sam Greene (6-1, 255) spent his first two seasons in college football at USC playing in the Pac-12 and the Big Ten. The DMV native played for two defensive coordinators during his time in Los Angeles, but is now looking for a new college football home.

KSR’s Transfer Bio Blast takes a closer look at the Big Ten transfer with three years of eligibility remaining.

Top-500 recruit

Sam Greene was a high three-star prospect in the class of 2023 from the DMV. The EDGE player transferred to play for powerhouse Baltimore (Md.) St. Frances Academy for his senior season. His recruitment would end shortly after that move.

Greene received scholarship offers from Boston College, Penn State, Texas A&M, and Syracuse during the recruiting process. But it was an offer from USC that changed things.

The Trojans issued an offer on in August of Greene’s senior high school season and that led to a commitment in September before the prospect ever stepped foot on USC’s campus. Green was locked in with Lincoln Riley‘s program, but is now looking for a new home after spending two seasons in Los Angeles County.

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Rotation player in year two

After playing in only three games a true freshman, Sam Greene entered year two at USC with the second unit but found some playing time as the season progressed. After playing 16 snaps or less in USC’s first five games against power conference foes, Greene saw his playing time increase over the last six games of the season.

The redshirt freshman EDGE played at least 20 snaps in each outing to close the season and logged a career-high 35 snaps in a Week 10 road loss to Washington. During this stretch of extended playing time, Greene recorded 11 tackles, three tackles for loss, one sack, and nine pressures.

Greene was not a starter yet but showed signs of development in year two.

Luckett’s scouting notebook

Sam Greene is still an inexperienced player, but the class of 2023 signee earned playing time as the season progressed for USC, and held up well. Some development is needed, but this is a defensive player with a high floor.

This is my scouting write-up on the Big Ten transfer after watching tape of USC games against Rutgers and Washington last season.

Sam Greene is an undersized outside linebacker who shows the ability to get under the pads of tackles in pass rush reps. Plays with good physicality in his rush but needs to develop a primary rush move outside of true power to produce more consistent wins. Owns the base to be a sturdy run defender who can set hard edges. Still needs to add some play strength. Can get stuck on blocks. Young player that will need some development.

Would project to play the Jack linebacker position in Kentucky’s 3-4 scheme. There are some length concerns but blend of power and high effort level on tape give the front seven defender a high floor.