BREAKING: Texas A&M DL Transfer Anthony Lucas Commits to USC

Texas A&M DL Anthony Lucas posted on Twitter this morning his intentions to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal. The former top-50 recruit in 2022 announced those plans last Tuesday morning.

USC was among his Top 7 Schools during the high school recruiting process. On3 Director of Recruiting Chad Simmons spoke to Lucas last Summer about the seven schools.

The 2022 5-Star visited ASU twice last week and took an official visit to USC that started on Friday and ended Saturday. There were reports he visited UCLA Sunday, but the USC visit led to Lucas announcing his commitment to the Trojans on Wednesday afternoon.

BREAKING: Former Texas A&M EDGE Anthony Lucas tells me he has Committed to USC!

He is ranked as the No. 11 Player in the transfer portal rankings

One of the highest-ranked recruits in A&M’s historic 2022 class. Will have 3 years of eligibility left.https://t.co/goVIcNvCNO pic.twitter.com/4ROgmVYA26

— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) January 11, 2023

Recruiting Approach

Lucas told a source on Tuesday he wasn’t sure if he’d take any school visits prior to choosing a new home. But an ASU source said Lucas was on campus there on Wednesday. That same source and an LSU source said USC was a serious option. We’re told LSU and Washington are as well. Alabama was also under serious consideration in 2021 and thought to be an option once again by Roll Tide experts.

Lucas confirmed his serious interest in USC with WeAreSC on Tuesday evening.

“Yessir,” said Lucas when asked if the Trojans would be seriously considered this go around.

He also seriously considered Oklahoma in 2022. So he already has a relationship with Lincoln Riley.

At one point during the recruiting process in high school, we’re told Lucas’s father thought USC would be the choice. 

Evaluation from On3 Director of Scouting & Rankings Charles Power

Anthony Lucas (No. 13) was among the several Aggie signees in Orlando. The Arizona product can be a frustrating evaluation at times. Lucas is among the more physically-gifted prospects in the cycle. He has an outstanding frame with advanced flexibility and athleticism. With that said, Lucas has a tendency fade into the background both in games and in this all-star practice setting. We didn’t see Lucas take a ton of reps over the first few days at Under Armour. Then he comes out has one of the more impressive reps of the week, beating Alabama signee Tyler Booker in a 1-on-1. The physical gifts are obvious, but Lucas will need to improve his play personality to maximize the ability.

Lucas played high school football at Scottsdale (AZ) Chaparral, where he was a four-star prospect. He was the No. 42 overall recruit in the 2022 cycle, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. 

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.

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.

Track transfer portal activity

While the NCAA transfer portal database is private, the On3 Network has streamlined the reporting process tracking player movement.

If you find yourself asking, ‘How can I track transfer portal activity?’ our well-established network of reporters and contacts across college athletics keeps you up to speed in several ways, from articles written about players as they enter and exit the transfer portal or find their new destination, to our social media channels, to the On3 Transfer Portal.

The transfer portal wire provides a real-time feed of player activity, including basic player profile information, transfer portal ranking and original On3 Consensus recruiting ranking, as well as NIL valuation (name, image and likeness).

The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and senior national college football reporter Matt Zenitz’s Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.