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Syracuse quarterback Michael Johnson Jr. will enter the transfer portal, he announced Monday.

Johnson transferred to the Orange before the 2024 season after beginning his collegiate career at Penn State in 2019 and transferring to Florida Atlantic in 2020. Johnson appeared in just one game, completing two passes for 31 yards while backing up Kyle McCord in his lone season at SU.

With McCord’s departure for the NFL, Syracuse added LSU transfer Rickie Collins to become its starting signal caller. SU head coach Fran Brown named Collins the starter on April 7 but said the backup spot was still a competition.

“Somebody may want to go in the portal or not,” Brown said of the backups on April 7. “That’s just the nature of the business, and we wish them the best because they’ve done a good job. But then, in the same sense, we’re competing our butts off right now for (the) two and three spot, which will be constant competition throughout the rest of the summer and rest of spring ball.”

Collins was sidelined during the Orange’s spring game on Saturday, and redshirt freshman Jakhari Williams was under center for the Orange team, which included many projected starters. Meanwhile, Johnson was the starting quarterback for the Blue team, playing with most of the projected backups. When asked postgame why Williams played with the Orange squad, Brown said it was because Collins wasn’t playing.

Despite Johnson’s departure, SU still has redshirt freshman AJ Miller and freshmen Luke Carney, Rich Belin and Joseph Filardi as depth pieces behind Collins and Williams. For Johnson, the son of Syracuse co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Michael Johnson Sr., the spring transfer portal opens on Wednesday and closes on April 25.

Published on April 14, 2025 at 9:38 am
Contact Justin: justingirshon@gmail.com | @JustinGirshon