Utah football should target this former 4-star recruit in the transfer portal

A former recruit who was once courted by the Utes out of high school has put his name on the open market

Soon-to-be Utah Utes head coach Morgan Scalley will likely look to add depth on the defensive side of the ball given several upperclassmen will be departing in the offseason. | Jamie Sabau-Imagn Images

The 2025 season hasn't wrapped up just yet, though the odd and, oftentimes, inconvenient structure of the college football calendar will likely force Utah to think hard about its potential 2026 roster.

Several players around the country — as well as few Utes — have already made their intentions of entering the transfer portal on Jan. 2 known, essentially opening the market early as many teams, inlcluding Utah, which is set to play Nebraska in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 31, prepare for their respective postseason matchups.

As Morgan Scalley and his staff keep an eye on the list of names pending portal entry, Clemson linebacker Jamal Anderson should be one Utah puts near the top of its offseason recruiting board.

Who is Jamal Anderson?

Anderson is a former four-star recruit out of Mill Creek High School (Georgia) who committed to Clemson over Utah, Michigan State, Penn State and Florida as 247Sports' No. 19-ranked linebacker in the 2023 class. His father, also named Jamal Anderson, was a running back for the Utes (1992-93) and a 1998 All-Pro selection while playing for the Atlanta Falcons.

The 6-foot-3 Anderson went on a trip to Salt Lake City in June 2022 for an official visit before deciding to play collegiately at Clemson, South Carolina, later that summer.

Anderson was designated to special teams duties as a freshman, though his playing time on the defensive side of the ball increased the following season. He logged 78 snaps and was credited with nine tackles, including one for loss, plus a sack and a blocked punt across 14 games.

Anderson decided to redshirt four games into the 2025 campaign, effectively ending his Tigers career after serving a minimal role with the team. His agency informed On3 of his intentions to enter the portal on Dec. 11, roughly three weeks before the two-week transfer window opens Jan. 2.

How Jamal Anderson fits Utah

The Utes evidently liked enough of what they saw from Anderson's high school tape to extend an offer and arrange a visit with him going into his senior season. The family connection through his father probably played a role in Utah's involvement as well, though the 6-foot-3, 200 pound prospect's physical tools and skillset spoke for themselves just the same.

Now checking in at 225 pounds, according to his Clemson profile, Anderson has the size and versatility to be an impactful player at the power conference level.

Utah will be in need of linebacker depth once Levani Damuni, Lander Barton and Moroni Anae graduate in the spring. That leaves soon-to-be senior Trey Reynolds and eventual junior Grady Mareko as the only upperclassmen at the position — that is, if both decide to keep their names out of the portal.

Scalley will likely look to replenish the departing talent with experienced and starter-level talent that can step in and make an impact immediately as he puts together his first transfer portal class as a head coach. Anderson wasn't that at Clemson, for whatever reason, but that certainly doesn't rule out a chance he develops into the caliber of player his recruiting profile suggested.

Utah has a short yet encouraging track record of developing linebackers who transferred in from other schools into quality prospects. Damuni, who tied his career-high in tackles with the Utes in 2024 after spending four years at Stanford, serves as the most recent example.

Perhaps a more notable reference is Mohamoud Diabate, a former four-star Florida commit who racked up 13.5 tackles for loss and 5.0 sacks in his one and only season with the Utes before signing with the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent in 2023. For comparison's sake, Diabate had 14.0 tackles for loss and 6.0 sacks in his three years with the Gators.

It's not exactly apples and oranges — Diabate played the "mike" linebacker position for the Utes, while Anderson was projected as an outside linebacker going into college — though if there was any school that could maximize Anderson's potential, it'd be the one that, outside of Clemson, recruited him the hardest when he was coming out of high school.