LJ Johnson Jr. is leaving Texas. The Cypress, Texas native announced his commitment to Cal on Saturday morning as the SMU transfer running back made the decision to flip his pledge from Rice to the Bears.
HIs addition means Cal has its third running back addition of the spring helping to replace the production lost when starters Jaydn Ott and Jaivian Thomas hit the portal in recent weeks.
In Johnson, the Bears add a former Rivals100 prospect who finished his high school career as the 44th-ranked recruit in the 2021 class. At that time, the Cy-Fair alum picked the Aggies over a bevy of offers from across the country including from Alabama, Ohio State, USC, Texas, Georgia, Michigan and LSU among others.
Johnson played in 10 games through his first two seasons before making the move to SMU where he was able to have a bigger role. In the last two seasons, the new Cal commit has rushed for 879 yards and 9 touchdowns with the Mustangs.
He averaged 4.8 yards per carry in his two years in Dallas across 24 games with seven starts.
Last year, the 5-foot-10, 219-pound redshirt senior rushed for 303 yards and 5 touchdowns on 74 carries. Johnson also had 11 catches for 80 yards and caught 18 passes for a 138 yards in his two seasons at SMU.
One of Johnson's best performances in 2024 came against new rival, Stanford, in a road win for the Mustangs. He rushed for 45 yards and 2 touchdowns on 9 carries plus had a 14-yard catch in that victory for SMU.
Cal saw five running backs enter the transfer portal following spring practice leaving Jamaal Wiley and incoming freshman Anthony League as the two remaining scholarship players at the position.
Since then the Bears have added three running backs to the group including UTSA's Brandon High Jr. and NC State transfer Kendrick Raphael from the portal.
In all, Cal has added 16 commitments from transfer players since the end of spring ball. Ten of those players have made their decisions in the last week.
Johnson originally committed to Rice on April 23. He carries a three-star rating by Rivals and is currently ranked No. 758 overall in the transfer portal rankings.
Cal spring transfer portal additions
– OLB Chris Victor (Chattanooga | April 16)
– WR Quaron Adams (South Dakota | April 19)
– OLB TJ Bush Jr. (Liberty | April 20)
– LS Rino Monteforte (Notre Dame | April 22)
– RB Brandon High Jr. (UTSA | April 25)
– CB Quimari Shemwell (Utah | April 25)
– RB Kendrick Raphael (NC State | April 26)
– OL Daveion Harley (Jacksonville State | April 28)
– WR Mark Hamper (Wisconsin | April 30)
– K Chase Meyer (Penn State | May 1)
– ILB Harrison Taggart (BYU | May 1)
– DT Zae Smith (Houston Christian | May 1)
– DB Jordan Sanford (Texas Tech | May 1)
– DB Brent Austin (South Florida | May 2)
– K Abram Murray (Miami | May 2)
– RB LJ Johnson Jr. (SMU | May 3)
