Freshman cornerback Joseph Johnson III, a 3-star recruit in the class of 2020, has entered the transfer portal. The 6-foot-2, 180-pounder from Virginia didn’t see any playing time during the 2020 season.
— J3 (@joseph_johnson7) April 20, 2021
2020 3-star DB Joseph Johnson has entered the transfer portal; he did see any playing time during his true freshman season at Penn State @rivalsmike @RivalsSnyder @NateBauerBWI https://t.co/LYCwElGkRL
— NCAA Transfer Portal (@RivalsPortal) April 20, 2021
Penn State has a lot of depth at the cornerback position, including the addition of transfer Johnny Dixon from South Carolina over the winter. That and the emergence this spring of true freshman Kalen King probably made things even tougher for Johnson. King had two interceptions in Saturday’s spring scrimmage and has drawn rave reviews from James Franklin.
Johnson also had off-the-field issues during his time at Penn State. He was one of four PSU players who faced misdemeanor drug charges for marijuana in September, then he faced misdemeanor drug charges for a second time in November.
Johnson was the No. 11 recruit out of Virginia in 2020 and had a slew of offers from major programs coming out of high school, including from the likes of Ohio State, Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, Florida, Florida State and Pitt.
Johnson enrolled early at PSU in January of 2020, thinking that would give him an advantage by starting his college career early. But unfortunately for him, the Nittany Lions didn’t have spring ball last year because of COVID, so he wasn’t able to fully benefit from the early enrollment.
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