Last season, USC relied on high-quality play at the safety position from Kamari Ramsey but was unable to find consistency from the players manning the other safety spot alongside him.

And with the depth chart clearing out at that spot as starter Easton Mascarenas-Arnold and veteran backup Bryson Shaw exhausted their eligibility, while emerging rotational piece Zion Branch transferred out, the Trojans prioritized bringing in a veteran safety out of the transfer portal.

They got their guy in Bishop Fitzgerald, who transferred into the program in January after a breakout season at NC State and went through spring practice while seemingly showing the coaches they got exactly what they were expecting from him.

"He's been kind of a steadying, kind of commanding presence. He's got some real leadership ability," coach Lincoln Riley said near the end of spring practice. "You see the way he communicates, how quickly he's learned our system. He's picked it up, it's felt, almost seamless. And he's played a lot of ball. He gets out there, he knows what to expect, he knows the checks, he knows the formation adjustments. He's just, it's like bringing in a veteran in the NFL.

"His learning curve is not quite as steep as somebody that hasn't played as much football. He's done a really nice job ... and, yeah, I think certainly has been a very positive addition."

RELATED: Get to know new USC safety Bishop Fitzgerald

As Riley stated, Fitzgerald offers a steadying presence next to Ramsey, with a skill set that closely matches what Ramsey himself brought to the table when he transferred to USC the previous offseason from UCLA.

But what kind of impact should USC and its fans expect on the field this fall from Fitzgerald? We dove deep into the film to answer that question -- or try to, at least.

Like Ramsey (6-foot, 202 pounds), the 5-foot-11, 198-pound Fitzgerald’s strongest attributes are his instincts, rapid reactions and his ability to make plays on the football when tested, while his play as a run defender coming downhill remains a bit more questionable. Much like Ramsey, Fitzgerald is capable of working from a variety of alignments despite his natural fit as a deep safety.

He was highly productive for the Wolfpack in 2024, posting a well-rounded stat line of 55 tackles, 7 tackles for loss, 8 pass breakups, 3 interceptions, 2 QB hits and a forced fumble. Heading into the 2025 season, Fitzgerald should have a clear path to playing time in the safety spot next to Ramsey, either in a full-time starting position or in a high-snap rotational role.

Though Ramsey improved his game as a downhill run-fitter last season, Fitzgerald appears to have some fundamental limitations in that part of his game. While he improved significantly as a tackler from 2023 to 2024, bringing his missed tackle rate down from 18.5% to 11.3%, Fitzgerald struggles to consistently take the right pursuit angles and to bring real stopping power with him when he arrives at the point of contact. That limitation makes him hard to count on in the run game, despite his propensity for making the occasional splash play there thanks to his instincts.

He can be effective against the run when decisive, but the problem remains that he’s often too hesitant, allowing runners to break his angles and preventing himself from bringing his full momentum to the point of impact. That also keeps him from recovering once he’s made a mistake or taken too long to make a read, greatly reducing his margin for error. He doesn’t quite have the long speed or explosiveness that Ramsey does, making it imperative for him to read, diagnose, and trigger rapidly.

But to his credit, the fifth-year senior and converted quarterback has a knack for doing so in the passing game. He’s got a good feel for both man and zone coverages, reacting to route patterns appropriately and proactively identifying the quarterback’s process. This allows him to be a real impact player in coverage, making him a difficult defender to throw against and giving him a propensity for generating significant ball production.

In 2024, Fitzgerald allowed just two passes of over 20 yards to be completed against him all year and gave up a total of just 115 yards in coverage over the final 9 games of the season, per PFF. He’s got both a great sense for tracking the football in the air and the aggression to make a play on it when given the chance, making him a reliable zone defender in deep-passing situations.

Despite his lack of elite athleticism, Fitzgerald has proved to be a steady presence in man coverage as well. He was consistently asked to match up with tight ends and slot receivers one-on-one and handled those situations quite well, showing a good natural sense for reading break points and reacting quickly.

Overall, Fitzgerald’s ceiling may be more limited than Ramsey’s, but his skill set is a valuable one that should offer a significant upgrade over what the Trojans had to work with last year in the second safety spot. Though he’s a fifth-year player, Fitzgerald made the transition from quarterback to defensive back Coffeyville Community College, so there’s still some potential for improvement as well, particularly with regard to his pursuit angles and decisiveness against the run.

Fitzgerald’s overall durability is an asset as well, as he never missed a game in his two years at NC State. Whether or not he’s locked into a starting role, that durability should be of tremendous value to a safety room that lacks experienced depth.

In preparation for this breakdown, I watched three full games of NC State defensive tape from the 2024 season as well as three more games from 2023. I’ll only be evaluating clips from Fitzgerald’s 2024 season for this piece, as I find it more worthwhile to understand him for the player he’s grown into than the player he was. The plays we’ll be looking at will primarily come from the three full games I studied from this past season (Stanford, Syracuse and North Carolina), along with a handful of notable moments from other contests in 2024.

Though the tape might single out other players with arrows (already on the footage), look for Fitzgerald wearing No. 7 at either a deep safety alignment or in the box.

NC State asked Fitzgerald to play quite a bit of man coverage last year -- 42.3% of his coverage snaps on the season came in man, good for 27th-most among all safeties in the country who played over 50% of their team’s snaps, per PFF. On 171 man coverage snaps, Fitzgerald was targeted 23 times, giving up just 108 yards and a completion percentage of 56.5%. Of all safeties with over 20 man coverage targets, only 4 (including Ramsey) managed to give up fewer yards per reception on those targets than Fitzgerald, who allowed just 8.3 YPR.

He managed great production on the ball in those situations, with 4 of his pass breakups and an interception deriving from those 23 targets. Though Fitzgerald isn’t the fastest or twitchiest athlete, he’s got a strong feel for positioning and possesses hips fluid enough to keep himself in phase with the receiver, routinely making it difficult for the offensive player to generate real separation. He’s an anticipatory player, showing good coverage IQ in his propensity for proactively identifying what route is coming and where the break will be.

This allows him to match routes in man coverage without having to lean on athletic ability, though he’s bound to get beat on the occasions that he guesses incorrectly.

Despite his smaller stature, Fitzgerald is a rather sturdy presence in coverage, rarely allowing larger tight ends to physically outmatch him through the route or to box him out at the catch point. Against quicker slot receivers, however, Fitzgerald is more at risk of getting beat due to his lack of equivalent agility and long speed. He’s not suited to playing one-on-one in the slot for prolonged stretches but is capable enough to handle a few of those reps per game if needed.

NC State initially lines up in a 2-high zone look before rolling into a nickel blitz with single-high man coverage behind it. Fitzgerald is initially lined up deep but rolls down to play man coverage on the slot receiver right at the snap, inherently at a disadvantage due to his initial forward momentum. He does well to stay patient while keeping his feet moving, showing confidence in his inside leverage and demonstrating a good feel for what routes the slot receiver might run.

Where Fitzgerald really shines on this rep is in the speed of his diagnosis, as he reads the receiver’s in-cut almost instantaneously, allowing him to plant and drive on the route in sync with the route-runner. His burst out of the plant is impressive as well, allowing him to close plenty of distance on his first step. As a result, he’s able to smother this route rapidly, taking away the quarterback’s hot read and forcing him to move downfield for a more difficult throw which ends up incomplete.

Playing man coverage from a deep alignment, Fitzgerald is matched up one-on-one with the slot receiver at the top of the screen. His patience stands out once again through the stem of the route as he refrains from leaving his pedal too early despite the approach of the receiver, taking short and controlled strafing steps instead to mirror the movement of his man. His patience nullifies the receiver’s natural leverage advantage on the slot fade route, allowing Fitzgerald to see the bend outside for what it is and to respond accordingly.

He flips his hips quickly and gets into phase just as the receiver is breaking his cushion, maintaining ideal leverage on the inside as he carries the receiver downfield. The control he has over the route allows him to look back for the ball in tandem with the receiver rather than struggling to recover with his eyes still on the route-runner, placing him in excellent position to make a play on the ball. Fitzgerald then delivers at the catch point, positioning himself properly and timing his leap to make contact with the football. He shows great tenacity to rip the ball out through the process of the catch despite the strong initial high point by the receiver, forcing an incompletion.

On this snap, NC State decides to meet the Tar Heels’ empty formation with a zero-blitz, sending every defender not in man coverage after the quarterback. If any of the man coverage defenders give up separation early enough for the quarterback to lock on, the resulting throw is likely to go for a big gain. Fitzgerald is lined up on the innermost receiver to the trips side of the formation, this time a tight end. Though this rep isn’t particularly interesting at face value as the early pressure forces the quarterback to throw incomplete to the opposite side, what’s notable is the confidence with which Fitzgerald handles his assignment.

The traditional teaching in man coverage is for defenders to keep their eyes on their man rather than on the quarterback, allowing the defender to more carefully monitor and match the movements of the receiver they’re tasked with guarding at the expense of awareness concerning the other receivers’ routes or the quarterback’s intent. On this play, Fitzgerald eschews this approach, choosing instead to alternate his vision between his mark and the quarterback. He starts the rep with eyes on the quarterback, looks back at the tight end for half a beat to calibrate, checks the quarterback again and then finally locks onto his assignment for the final stages of the route as he makes his break and matches the tight end downfield.

This introduces the possibility for him to react to additional outcomes beyond a throw to his man; If the quarterback had chosen to throw the slant to his No. 2 receiver, Fitzgerald would have a chance to break on the route and potentially pick it off. This is a high-risk, high-reward strategy, but Fitzgerald executes it successfully thanks to his keen spatial awareness.

It’s worth noticing that he doesn’t appear particularly twitchy as he goes through this rep, but he’s clearly moving well enough to keep up with the tight end. More than his physical traits, it’s his ability to mirror the stem of the route and to sync his own movements appropriately that allow him to keep his man from getting open on this play.

Once again playing man to man on the No. 3 (innermost) receiver to the trips side, Fitzgerald shows off fantastic anticipation and route recognition. The design of this three-man route combination is intended to create a natural pick-play, with all three receivers moving through the same congested space with the intention of shedding the defenders in man coverage. Fitzgerald’s man is the primary target on the play, looking to work free into the flat under the rub routes run by the other two receivers. It’s a very well-designed play, and the setup of the routes puts Fitzgerald at a significant disadvantage in terms of his ability to get to the receiver at the catch point.

However, Fitzgerald’s lightning-fast processing and footwork out of his backpedal allow him to give himself a critical head start. Even though he’s set up with inside leverage and begins the snap with a clear predisposition toward cutting off any in-breaking routes, Fitzgerald recognizes where the receiver plans to go before the cut on the route has even been made. Watch the way he breaks out of his pedal and begins his move toward the sideline even before the receiver has managed to finish his cut. This proactivity allows him to clear the clutter before it cuts him off completely, and he takes a great angle with his eyes on the receiver to meet him at the catch point in the flat. He’s decisive and aggressive when the ball arrives, making a good hit and firmly tackling the receiver for a minimal gain.

Playing man on the tight end, Fitzgerald isn’t fooled for a moment by the play-action fake. Just the smallest bit of hesitation on his part would have opened up an opportunity for this tight end screen to break for a big gain, but the safety is all over it from the moment the ball is snapped. He smothers the pass-catcher as soon as the ball arrives, turning what should be an easy reception into a fourth-down pass breakup and turnover on downs.

Assigned with covering the slot receiver, Fitzgerald flashes his rapid play recognition again to identify the screen and trigger on it immediately. However, his propensity for taking bad angles downhill bites him here as he takes a path straight into the clutches of the lead blocker as though pulled by a magnet. That failure prevents him from making a play here and results in a first down.

Playing man-to-man in a very similar situation, this time Fitzgerald is just too quick for the offense to get in his way. He sees where this ball is going practically from the moment the ball is snapped and fires downhill even before the quarterback has gotten the ball out of his hands. Fitzgerald is on the receiver as soon as the pass arrives, but he doesn’t take the ideal angle or break down efficiently. As a result, he’s unable to finish the play himself despite effectively earning the stop on his own.

On yet another screen rep out of man coverage, Fitzgerald manages the play perfectly. He recognizes the offense’s intent quickly and starts to close ground rapidly, this time showing a good feel for space and effectively slipping past the blocker. The improved pursuit angle he takes here allow him to reach the ball quickly, setting up a strong tackle and a stop on the play.

Fitzgerald’s general anticipatory ability and his field awareness make him a strong player in zone coverage as well, particularly when working from depth. Quarterbacks did not feel comfortable testing him in zone coverage in 2025, as he was targeted only 7 times on 128 zone coverage snaps over the course of the season, per PFF. He gave up just 63 yards and a meager NFL passer rating of 59.5 on those targets, producing 2 pass breakups and 1 interception.

One of Fitzgerald’s best traits overall is the efficiency with which he’s able to work out of his backpedal, consistently making his break proactively and demonstrating great footwork to fire out of it without wasting any time. In deep zone coverages, this allows him to effectively diagnose and pick up route combinations according to his given assignment.

Fitzgerald shows good ball skills and aggression at the catch point, leading him to consistently prevent completions once in position to do so.

On occasion, his athleticism limitations can handicap him when patrolling the deep field as faster players can get away from him in the event that he doesn’t control the rep with good positioning and early reactions. But his movement skills are usually more than sufficient for good deep-field play, particularly when paired with his strong play recognition. His knack for reacting to routes early can be a double-edged sword at times when he gets caught guessing wrong, but those instances are few and far between on the tape.

Fitzgerald’s one clear area for improvement as a zone defender lies with his inconsistency as a downhill tackler when the ball is thrown away from him. He often appears hesitant to react and takes poor pursuit angles, failing to close the space to the ball-carrier efficiently and often letting them get by him as a result. Fitzgerald is a hit-or-miss player in these situations; he makes plenty of good plays coming downhill to blow up screens thanks to his quick recognition of the play, but he’s prone to getting exposed when he doesn’t react fast enough. These issues show up in his play against the run as well and are the biggest weakness of his game as a whole.

Working as the cover-3 safety in the middle of the field, Fitzgerald plays a pretty much perfect rep of deep coverage here. He maintains good positioning on the vertical No. 2 receiver through the stem of the route before flipping his hips when the receiver breaks outside. He scans to the outside with his eyes as soon as he turns and immediately spots the outside receiver breaking to the middle of the field, effortlessly redirecting to pick up the post route. As the quarterback extends the play, Fitzgerald does well to recover on the receiver’s second move and stay within striking distance in order to keep the route effectively covered.

Once again, Fitzgerald is working as the deep middle safety, this time in what seems to be a Cover 6 look (Cover 3 to one side of the field, Cover 2 to the other). As the No. 3 receiver comes vertical, Fitzgerald steadily gains depth in his backpedal while reading the quarterback’s eyes. As the receiver starts to break his cushion, Fitzgerald flips his hips and stacks over the route cleanly, carrying it down the field and giving up no separation.

NC State seems to run the Cover 6 look again here, but this time Fitzgerald drops down into the box to play the middle hook, much like the middle linebacker in a Tampa-2 coverage. He’s responsible for picking up receivers coming over the middle at any depth, with the expectation of some help outside of the boundary side hashes from the dropping cornerback.

Fitzgerald is less familiar playing this kind of second-level coverage, and with his eyes locked on the quarterback, he fails to get his eyes on the No. 2 receiver and gather the appropriate depth to match him. When that receiver breaks towards the back of the end zone on his post route, Fitzgerald is late to react and finds himself in a disadvantageous position. Fitzgerald does a great job of taking the right angle to pick up the route from underneath in recovery, but there’s more than enough separation already generated for the quarterback to throw this touchdown over the top.

Luckily, the ball goes elsewhere, but this is an example of the fact that Fitzgerald’s athleticism isn’t quite elite enough to make up for late reactions or missed reads on a consistent basis.

Playing from centerfield, Fitzgerald is more than capable of delivering the boom on throws coming up the seam.

As we’ve established, rapid reaction time is one of the strongest attributes of Fitzgerald’s game. He’s quick to understand what’s taking place in front of him and to respond without wasting a beat. This is a tremendous asset in zone coverage, where he can sit back to read the quarterback’s eyes and the receiver’s route combinations as they unfold before him to proactively make the right move as soon as it presents itself.

On this snap, he identifies the quarterback’s intention to hit the quick curl from the slot almost instantaneously and triggers on it like a bolt of lightning, managing a beautiful pass breakup despite starting the rep from 8 yards of depth.

Playing as the Cover 1 safety with his teammates in man coverage, Fitzgerald does well to identify the slot receiver beating his man on the crosser coming over the middle. He fires downhill at the ideal angle with perfect timing to reach this ball, making a physical play on the receiver without interfering to ensure a pass breakup and force a turnover on downs.

This is a rather difficult play for a single-high safety to make, requiring near-perfect recognition, reaction time and tracking skill in order to get to the ball at the right moment. Plays like this demonstrate Fitzgerald’s ability to provide value on passing downs beyond what should normally be expected within the scope of his assignment.

The TV copy makes it hard to see what’s happening deep downfield on this play, but Fitzgerald appears to be tasked with a Tampa-2 type middle-hook assignment much like the one mentioned a few examples prior. This time, he successfully gathers the appropriate depth and recognizes the route threatening his zone on time, putting himself in great position to track the receiver down the field. But again, his lack of top-end footspeed keeps him from staying in stride with the receiver even despite the substantial cushion with which he’s working.

The receiver gets past him on the way to the end zone, but the ball is slightly underthrown, allowing Fitzgerald just enough time to get back in the picture and get his hand fractionally in the way between the receiver and the ball. His effort to make the recovery here barely forces the incompletion on what could very easily have been a long touchdown, but even a slightly better throw would have likely rendered his efforts futile.

For all his aptitude in coverage, it’s against the run that there are persistent elements of shakiness in Fitzgerald’s play. It’s not as though he isn’t capable of making a positive impact against the ground game, as his tape is littered with great downhill run fits that show him ably and energetically flying to the ball in order to make stops near or behind the line of scrimmage. The lingering problem, however, is the inconsistency of his pursuit angles and a lack of the same decisiveness that characterizes his play in coverage.

Fitzgerald frequently appears indecisive in deciding when to trigger against the run, especially when he’s starting from depth. His late reactions in these scenarios often lead him to take inefficient pursuit angles, creating creases for runners and putting himself in poor position to finish the play. When Fitzgerald does read the run and react in a timely fashion, he’s often quite capable of getting to the ball in a hurry and making stops. He seems to be significantly better at doing so when working closer to the line of scrimmage, likely because he’s less worried about potentially abdicating deep coverage assignments. Working from depth, however, he’s prone to positioning himself poorly to make a play and often jeopardizes the defensive structure by doing so.

With that said, Fitzgerald is still capable of being an impact player against the run thanks to his solid tackling. Though he’s certainly not elite in that regard, he’s fairly reliable at bringing ball-carriers down with a respectable missed tackle rate of 11.3% last season. Though he can sometimes fail to break down appropriately and can show an excess of hesitancy as he tries to track the runner’s hip, he’s capable of being aggressive at the point of contact and has the ability to deliver a big hit from time to time.

As of the 2024 season, Fitzgerald’s hesitancy and poor pursuit angles were significantly detrimental to his game as he gave up long runs and often failed to execute the necessary stops as the last line of defense on the back end. The good news is that both of those issues are theoretically solvable with good coaching and more reps, especially given the decisiveness and spatial awareness he so clearly demonstrates when playing the pass. As a fifth-year senior it’s hard to make bets on significant improvement to a career-long area of concern, but coaching safeties is defensive coordinator D'Anton Lynn's specialty so this will be an interesting coaching point to monitor.

As you’ll see, the 2024 contest against Stanford provides a full encapsulation of both the good and bad in Fitzgerald’s game as a run defender. It appears evident on this snap that the entire NC State defense, Fitzgerald included, knows that a run is coming. Fitzgerald creeps up from his single-high spot and tracks the ball well to meet the ball-carrier right at the line of scrimmage. He tries to break down before the tackle but doesn’t get low enough while also losing his downhill momentum, allowing the runner to knock him back with a lowered shoulder. Despite taking some punishment, Fitzgerald does well to hold on and finish the tackle for what’s ultimately a good run stop.

On this snap, Fitzgerald’s lack of decisiveness and failure to take a good pursuit angle dooms his defense to giving up a 67-yard touchdown on the quarterback draw. Working as the single-high safety, he reads the QB run quickly but then waits a beat too long to determine which lane the runner chooses. Once he realizes that the play is going outside, Fitzgerald takes a bad initial angle toward the line of scrimmage, after which point he just doesn’t have the footspeed to catch the quarterback.

Once again working from the single-high alignment, Fitzgerald is decisive in reading and triggering on the outside zone run this time. However, he takes a poor pursuit angle and finds himself unable to readjust to the runner’s trajectory as he rounds the corner, leading the safety to make contact with his own teammate and go tumbling into the dirt. His error causes this run to go for at least 15 extra yards.

For all his deficiencies playing the run from depth, Fitzgerald’s instincts allow him to be a weapon against the ground game when working near the line of scrimmage. Tasked with blitzing on this play, he avoids the tunnel vision that most second-level blitzers are prone to, closing ground efficiently before doing a stellar job of reading the mesh point on the read option.

The moment the quarterback pulls the ball to the outside, Fitzgerald is all over it, practically making his move simultaneously with the runner. He makes a perfect form tackle through the lower body, forcing a loss on a play that could have easily gone for a 66-yard touchdown had he not executed a perfect rep from start to finish.

And just like that, a few plays later, we’re back to Fitzgerald absolutely botching his run support duties from a single-high assignment. On another quarterback draw, the safety makes the same mistakes we saw on the first touchdown, playing too hesitant early and taking a problematic angle once he starts to track the runner. Just like the last time, he’s simply not fast enough to make the stop despite still having good depth on the quarterback and gets dusted en route to the end zone.

This time in the low redzone, life is good once more as Fitzgerald is back to playing the run closer to the line of scrimmage. Totally unblocked, he reads out the wide run perfectly and takes a good angle to cut off the runner’s path, closing the distance quickly and making a great tackle to force a loss.

In this rivalry game against UNC, Fitzgerald and the NC State defense had their hands full against one of the nation’s best running backs in future first-round pick Omarion Hampton. On this snap, Fitzgerald is working from the single-high alignment as Hampton bounces the zone run to the outside. The safety takes a better angle to the ball than we’ve seen on some prior reps, but there’s still an apparent hesitancy in his movements as he closes space. Though he does well to cut off Hampton’s path, that lack of decisiveness allows a few extra yards and prevents him from ultimately making the tackle.

Aligned closer to the line of scrimmage, Fitzgerald does well to mirror this jet sweep to the sideline. He overpursues to the outside but forces a cutback right to his waiting teammates by doing so. This was probably the right call on this play, as a conservative pursuit of the inside hip would have likely given up a long gain to the outside.

Though he doesn’t do anything particularly flashy on this down, this kind of open-field stop is more of what you want to see from Fitzgerald when working from single-high. He maintains good positioning, effectively closes the distance and takes a smart path to the runner to cut off his runway before making a solid low tackle.

The addition of Fitzgerald gives the Trojans the best safety tandem they’ve had in years. The duo of he and Ramsey provides D’Anton Lynn with two assignment-versatile players capable of interchanging responsibilities and handling a variety of roles. The ability of both players to reliably handle man and zone coverages as well as to operate effectively close to the line of scrimmage will unlock a degree of schematic flexibility that the USC defense couldn’t access last year due to the limitations of its personnel.

Beyond scheme fit, what really makes the pairing of Ramsey and Fitzgerald exciting are the instincts both players bring to the table. Safety is one of the most instinct-dependent positions on the football field, and having two veterans capable of reading and reacting at a high level significantly raises the floor of a defense.

If Lynn wants to deploy more of a downhill thumper at the strong safety position, he’ll also have the opportunity to make more use of junior Christian Pierce, who seems to be on the verge of earning a significant role for the upcoming year as well. Where Ramsey and Fitzgerald offer similar skill sets, Pierce brings something different to the position as a bigger and more physical presence. Whether he’s rotated in with Fitzgerald or deployed in the three-safety sets Lynn has shown a fondness for, the Trojans should have a very strong safety room capable of being utilized in various permutations.

Fitzgerald’s lack of top-end athleticism and his struggles in pursuit might limit his ceiling to an extent, but he does enough at a high level to consistently serve as a positive difference-maker. If Lynn and the coaching staff can help shore up the fixable elements of his game, Fitzgerald might legitimately be capable of turning in an all-conference season in 2025.