It’s not yet known where DJ Johnson will land. Thanks to one of his social media sites, though, we have a pretty good idea.
Tuesday afternoon, Miami announced that Johnson would be transferring from Mark Richt‘s football program, the third such move in a span of roughly 24 hours. In confirming his departure, Richt stated that the defensive end “indicated to me that he would like to continue his playing career closer to his family.”
On his Twitter account not long after, the Sacramento native posted a photo of a letter he received from the university’s director of compliance, which specifically states he’s permitted to be contacted by eight Pac-12 institutions -- and only those eight -- about a potential transfer. That octet includes Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Oregon, Oregon State, UCLA, USC and Washington. The latter two schools were two of Johnson’s finalists before he signed with The U last year.
Here are the programs I am in permission to contact. pic.twitter.com/CVJpu2v4tx
— DJ Johnson (@ThuhGod) January 2, 2018
That leaves four Pac-12 schools that were excluded -- Colorado, Stanford, Utah and Washington State.
A four-star member of the Hurricanes’ 2017 recruiting class, Johnson was rated as the No. 9 player at any position in the state of California. Using 247Sports.com‘s rankings, no defensive player in The U’s class last year was rated higher than the weakside defensive end.
As a true freshman, Johnson played in eight games. He was credited with three tackles.