North Florida transfer guard Jose Placer commits to South Florida
Former North Florida guard Jose Placer announced Saturday that he’ll finish his college career at South Florida. Placer has one season of eligibility remaining.
“I’ve committed to USF,” Placer exclusively told BullsInsider.com when we called him Friday afternoon just to check up on him. Placer later went public with his commitment via social media.
Placer picked USF over a final group that included Charlotte and Western Kentucky. He entered the NCAA transfer portal on April 4 and took official visits to Charlotte, Western Kentucky and USF before making his decision.
“We’ve been familiar with each other, just from, playing against him for the last three years,” Placer said of Bulls head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim. “He being at Kennesaw, and them, you know, being in our league. So he reached out, we talked, I went up there and saw the school. And we talked for a whole nother [sic] week. There was just a level of, I guess, trust already built in there, in terms of familiarity with each other. What he did with those guys at Kennesaw and I was kind of able to witness that just in games that we played against each other. So, that relationship was there. I knew some of the staff already as well.”
*****
MORE TRANSFER PORTAL COVERAGE: Latest news | Portal player ranking/transfer tracker (hoops) | Portal player ranking/transfer tracker (football) | Football team ranking | Message Board | Follow transfer news on Twitter
*****
Still, a couple of more steps needed to be taken before Placer made his decision.
“I talked to my family, and then, I’m a big faith guy, so I prayed about it a lot and came to this conclusion.”
Since he doesn’t live far from USF and had been on campus previously, Placer took an unofficial visit to USF.
“I live an hour from Tampa so it didn't make sense for me to stay in a hotel,” he said. “So, I got to go up, spend day with them, talk, do all the things that you would do just not all that extra stuff, because I was really only focused on basketball.”
Placer began his college career at UMBC appearing in in 33 games with three starts for the Retrievers in the 2018-19 season. After the season, Placer entered the portal, transferred to UNF and sat out the 2019-20 season per NCAA Transfer requirements at that time.
He made an immediate impact in his first season with the Ospreys appearing in all 23 games and earning 22 starts. Placer ranked second on team and sixth in the ASUN at 14.5 points per game to go along with 3.3 assists and 2.7 rebounds. He earned second team All-ASUN honors following the 2020-21 season.
During his three seasons at UNF Placer scored more than 1,000 career points. He polished off his career at the Jacksonville school with another standout season with third team all-league honors. Placer averaged 16.1 points and 2.8 assists per game during ASUN play. All-told, Placer averaged 14.1 points per game across 30 games, his third-straight year averaging at least 14 points per contest.
RUSS’ REACTION
I first saw Placer play at an exposure event in March 2017. Of him I wrote that Placer was “A cerebral point guard with a terrific feel for the game. Placer contributed with assists, steals and rebounds. He has good range on his jumper and knows how to set his teammates up. Placer is an active defender in half court or transition.” All of that is still true to this day. I’d add that he is a mentally tough leader, three-level scorer and a great teammate.
• Talk about it inside The Bullpen
• Not a BullsInsider.com subscriber? Get started by clicking HERE.
• Follow us on Twitter: @USFBulls_Rivals and @RussHoops