College football transfer portal: SEC wideout Cam Johnson pledges to Pac-12 school
Former Vanderbilt wide receiver Cam Johnson announced he will commit to Arizona State for the 2022 college football season, six months after entering the transfer portal.
Johnson played 11 games for Vanderbilt last season and made 36 appearances for the Commodores throughout his career over four seasons at the school.
Last season, Johnson caught 34 passes for 327 yards with four touchdowns and an average of 9.6 yards per reception. In his career at Vanderbilt, the receiver had 124 catches for 1,233 yards, 10 touchdowns, and 9.9 yards per reception.
Johnson was a consensus 4-star prospect in the 2018 college football recruiting class. Analysts rated him a top 10 overall player in the state of Tennessee, a top 45 wide receiver, and a top 275 prospect nationally.
College Football HQ rated Johnson as the No. 7 overall player available in the transfer portal at the time of his announcement.
Johnson has two years of eligibility remaining.
What it means for Arizona State
Johnson's pledge to the Sun Devils comes at a crucial time, just two days after former Florida quarterback Emory Jones announced he transferred to Arizona State.
Those two additions are a sigh of relief for a program that has lost a ton of talent in the transfer portal this offseason and compromised its depth and talent.
Jayden Daniels, ASU's starting quarterback last fall, transferred to LSU, and the Sun Devils lost top receivers Ricky Pearsall and LB Bunkley-Shelton. All-American linebacker Eric Gentry departed for USC and defensive lineman Jermayne Lole is in the portal.
Where are the Sun Devils at receiver?
Arizona State is still lacking for options. Johnson will help patch things up in the slot this fall, but he's only the sixth scholarship receiver on the team.
ASU hopes it can get more from Bryan Thompson, whose 13 receptions were the most by a returning receiver on this roster from last season. Elijhah Badger comes in as a sophomore with limited production, but plenty of athletic upside.
Any way you look at it, the Sun Devils will need to attract more receiving skill through the transfer portal if they want to get the most from their quarterback acquisition.
NCAA transfer portal
The NCAA created the transfer portal on Oct. 15, 2018. That decision has helped transform the game of college football by giving players an easier opportunity to change teams and direct their playing careers.
Players no longer require permission from their coaches in order to transfer. They just have to request that their school’s compliance department enter their name into the portal.
Names appear in the transfer portal in one or two days, and schools are free to contact transferring players without restriction thereafter.
Players that enter their name into the transfer portal don’t necessarily leave their schools. A player is free to take his name out of the portal at any time. But schools are not under an obligation to keep transferring players on scholarship once they put their names into the portal.