The Transfer Portal has changed the landscape of college football. So at Rivals we bring you the Transfer Tracker, where we analyze players entering the portal and rate them on what kind of impact they could make at their new home.
Next up in the tracker: Alabama defensive tackle Ishmael Sopsher, who announced his commitment to USC on Friday night.
AS A RECRUIT
Sopsher's recruitment was another classic battle between LSU and Alabama and he took it all the way until traditional Signing Day in 2019. After visiting both schools, as well as Oregon, Ole Miss and Texas A&M, Sophsher committed to the Tide on national TV.
AT ALABAMA
Sopsher never really broke into the lineup for the Tide, playing in just one game in 2019 and logging just 11 snaps. Despite dropping weight and drawing praise heading into the 2020 season, Sopsher didn't see any playing time for the Tide and entered the portal early in the season.
After remaining quiet for months, he announced his plans to transfer to USC on Friday night. He will have four years of eligibility remaining with the Trojans.
FARRELL'S TAKE
“Sopsher was highly regarded as a defensive tackle but really peaked at a young age and somewhat flatlined at the end of his high school career and reached his ceiling. It’s not a shock that he didn’t make an early impact at Alabama based on our worries about that ceiling but he’s a big body that can plug space for USC up front and help in the run game.” -- National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell
Impact Rating: 7.3 out of 10
IMPACT METER
The Transfer Portal continues to change the way college football programs recruit and mange their rosters so we here at Rivals.com continue to evolve our coverage. Each time a player of note enters the portal, we will examine their potential impact on the college football landscape and assign an impact rating, both when they enter the portal and when they choose a destination. The scale is from 1-10 and the description below explains the scoring scale.
1.1-4.0 — Not a big impact expected, likely a non-starter and down the bench depth player.
4.1- 6.0 — A solid impact can be expected in the right scenario and has the potential to battle for a starting job.
6.1-9.0. — A high impact player who won’t change a program but will certainly be a very good contributor and starter.
9.1- 9.9 — A very high impact player who should start the moment he steps on the field and will change the outlook of a program immediately.
10 — A franchise transfer who has a chance to be an All American and one of the elite players in college football.
