The son of one of the greatest wide receivers to ever put on a Syracuse football uniform has taken the first step in leaving his father’s alma mater.
On Twitter Wednesday evening, Kevin Johnson Jr. announced that he has decided to place his name into the NCAA transfer database. “Thank you #CuseNation for everything you have done for me these past two seasons,” the receiver wrote.
Thank you #CuseNation for everything you have done for me these past two seasons. I have decided to enter the Transfer Portal with three seasons of eligibility remaining. God Bless!
— KJ (@KevJohnsonJr) March 11, 2020
Given the fact that Johnson wrote that he has three years of eligibility remaining, it appears that he will leave the Syracuse football team as a graduate transfer. That, despite the fact that he’s been at the university for just a little more than two years.
Now, pardon me while I repeat myself: A player who enters the database can be contacted by other schools without receiving permission from his current school. That player could also pull his name out of the portal and return to the team.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, a school has the ability to pull a player’s scholarship at the end of the semester in which he entered the database.
Johnson was a two-star member of the Syracuse football Class of 2018. His only other FBS offers came from Colorado and Florida. He was an early enrollee who participated in spring practice.
During his two seasons with the Orange, Johnson didn’t appear in a single game.
Johnson’s dad is Kevin Johnson Sr., who played for Syracuse football from 1995-98 and was named the 1998 Big East Special Teams Player of the Year and an American Football Coaches Association first-team All-American. The elder Johnson originally began his Orange career as a quarterback before moving to receiver after losing out on the starting job to Donovan McNabb.
Johnson’s departure is the first for a Syracuse football player this year. In January, Syracuse added Florida offensive lineman Chris Bleich as a transfer.