USC defensive back Lamont Simmons has transferred to Georgia Tech following his redshirt season in Los Angeles. Tech made the announcement on the football team’s Twitter account Thursday afternoon.

Simmons is from Jacksonville, Fla., where he was a highly recruited player out of Raines High in the 2014 signing class. He was expected to play as a backup in the 2015 season, but made his decision to transfer in June. Tech and Georgia were among the schools to make scholarship offers to Simmons as a high schooler.

Simmons, 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds, will sit out the season and be eligible to play in 2016. He will have three seasons of eligibility. There will be open spots in the backfield as the four Yellow Jackets defensive backs projected to start this season are seniors.

USC coach Steve Sarkisian spoke highly of Simmons in the spring, saying, “He’s a really good fit if you want to play a lot of man-to-man because he’s got length, he’s got speed. We’re starting to see more of the assertiveness, the physicality and the confidence.”