Player who received most scholarship offers in 2017 class announces he's transferring
If the Miami Hurricanes are to follow up their resurgent 2017 season with more success, they will have to do it without one of the most-heralded players in the nation.
Freshman defensive end D.J. Johnson has announced he will transfer from the program after one season. Coach Mark Richt said Johnson, who hails from Sacramento, California, wants to play closer to his family.
https://twitter.com/Thaa_Man/status/948284535317254144
Johnson just completed his freshman season and was a four-star recruit in the Class of 2017. According to stateoftheu.com, he had more than 100 scholarship offers, which was the most of his class, and decided to make the cross-country trip to Coral Gables, Florida.
Johnson’s offers were all over the map, both literally and figuratively. He had offers from CFP finalists Alabama and Georgia to smaller schools such as Buffalo and Appalachian State. Apart from Miami, Johnson’s other visits were to USC, Utah and Washington.
He was expected to be an instant-impact player with the Hurricanes but struggled to see meaningful playing time. He played in just eight games, with most of that coming on special teams, and recorded three tackles.
When a player requests a transfer from Miami, the school will provide the player with a list of schools they will approve a transfer to. After Johnson announced his intention to transfer closer to home, Miami released a list of the schools he can contact.
https://twitter.com/Thaa_Man/status/948305645530333184
All eight schools are on the West Coast and play in the Pac-12. The only Pac-12 schools not on the list are Stanford, Washington State, Colorado and Utah.
Johnson was the second-highest ranked player from Miami’s 2017 recruiting class and was the highest-ranked defensive player. His loss is further compounded by the fact that the Hurricanes are also losing their top defensive end and leading sack artist in Trent Harris, who has completed his eligibility.
Miami has no ready-made replacement as it didn’t sign any defensive ends during the early signing period for the 2018 class. They can still make a last-ditch effort to bring in more talent at the position during the regular signing period which starts Feb. 7 and ends April 1.
Johnson may be the biggest name, but he is not the only player that Miami is unexpectedly losing. Linebacker Darrion Owens, a redshirt junior who had 35 tackles last season, is also transferring. He will not have to sit out a year because he graduated in December.
Defensive lineman Ryan Fines is also leaving the program after appearing in five games over the last two seasons. Fines is on pace to graduate in the spring, and if he does he will be eligible to play immediately at another school.
Linebacker Jamie Gordinier is also leaving the program, but for far different reasons. Gordinier announced he was stepping away from football following multiple reconstructive knee surgeries.
— JG (@jamiegordinier) December 31, 2017
Gordinier redshirted as a freshman in 2015, suffered a season-ending knee injury in the season opener in 2016 and then suffered another season-ending injury in August. He finishes his college football career with one game played.
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