Iowa football wide receiver Keagan Johnson enters NCAA transfer portal

Two days after Iowa quarterback Alex Padilla announced his intent to transfer, another Hawkeye on offense entered the NCAA transfer portal. Sophomore wide receiver Keagan Johnson announced his decision via his Twitter account on Thursday afternoon. The former four-star recruit appeared in only two games during the 2022 season and 11 games overall totaling 20 catches for 363 yards and two touchdowns.

By the end of the 2021 season, Johnson was one of the most promising players in Iowa's program. Johnson ended up with nine starts, tied for the most while becoming the team's top big-play threat. Despite only 18 receptions, he finished second in receiving yards (352), for an average of 19.6 yards per catch. However, a series of injuries limited Johnson's availability.

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He was a late scratch in last season's Citrus Bowl with an injury. Afterwards began a series of other injuries, described mainly as "soft tissue" that kept him sidelined for a large part of spring practice, summer conditioning and through the fall. His status throughout the 2022 season was one of the biggest storylines on the team. He appeared in Iowa's Week 3 contest against Nevada but re-aggravated the injury and didn't return until the regular season finale against Nebraska.

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"His process is his process. Everybody is different," wide receivers coach Kelton Copeland said of Johnson in November. "The biggest message that I have for people, being the media, fans and even people inside of our building is you can't judge one young man's situation next to another. His process is his process and we don't know what's going on inside of his body or what's actually happening. I do know this though, this young man wants to play football more than anybody else wants him to."

Johnson is the third Iowa football player to announce an intent to transfer joining Padilla and offensive lineman Josh Volk. His decision leaves Iowa with five available scholarship receivers for the team's upcoming bowl game. The NCAA transfer portal officially opens on Monday, Dec. 5.