Bru McCoy’s surprising time in the NCAA Transfer Portal didn’t last long. He’s already on his way to Austin.
McCoy, the 5-star athlete prospect who was both ranked in the USA TODAY Chosen 25 and named as an All-USA selection, announced he had signed with USC during the All-American Bowl on January 5. Less than three weeks later he entered the NCAA’s transfer portal, announcing his intentional to leave the school at which he had just enrolled in part because of the surprising defection of then-USC offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury.
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At the time, McCoy told USA TODAY and others that he was making his final decision between USC and Texas. It’s now clear that Kingsbury’s departure was enough to change his mind, with 247Sports, and others, reporting that McCoy has now signed a financial aid agreement with Texas and will enroll in Austin this weekend.
When McCoy will be eligible to play in Austin remains more murky. The two-time Super 25 national champion at Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) High School had enrolled at USC and attended classes. By the letter of the NCAA’s existing law, that would require him to sit out the 2019 season before beginning his eligibility in 2020.
But McCoy’s family will contend that Kingsbury was integral to McCoy’s decision to attend USC, and his surprising departure undercut the stability of the coaching organization at the school to which he signed. It’s a reasonable argument, and in a hyper-aggressive transfer market during the first year of the NCAA’s public transfer portal, it’s entirely possible that McCoy is granted a waiver that would make him immediately eligible for the Longhorns in the 2019 season.
Regardless of the final result, McCoy’s case is perhaps the most unique one to emerge in the current transfer portal, and it sure to attract the eyes of fellow recruits in the current cycle as well as high school juniors who may go through a similar process next year.