Report: Arkansas punter Blake Johnson enters transfer portal

Blake Johnson has entered the NCAA’s transfer portal, SEC Network analyst Cole Cubelic reported Monday morning.

It is not a surprising move for the Arkansas punter because he was surpassed on the depth chart by two walk-on true freshmen this season. He will be a fifth-year senior in 2019, so he is presumably a graduate transfer who will be immediately eligible at the FBS level.

Considered one of the top specialists in the country coming out of Los Alamitos (Calif.) in 2015, Johnson was ranked behind only a couple of kickers by Rivals and given a 5.5 three-star rating.

Unfortunately, things never panned out for him at Arkansas.

As a true freshman, Johnson was caught urinating on a light pole the week before the Razorbacks’ season opener against UTEP and charged with public intoxication and disorderly conduct.

After redshirting that season, he was Toby Baker’s backup in 2016 and showed promise with punts of 48 and 46 yards against Texas State, but that didn’t carry over into his sophomore year.

In 2017, Johnson averaged just 38.6 yards on 59 punts, with only 16 pinned inside the 20-yard line. His average ranked 115th among 125 qualified punters in the FBS and Pro Football Focus gave him a 54.7 grade, which ranked 109th out of 117 FBS punters with at least 40 attempts.

Those struggles led to Arkansas bringing in several walk-on punters to compete with him for the starting job in 2018. Before being passed by Reid Bauer and Matthew Phillips, Johnson punted seven times for a 30.4-yard average - which ranked dead last among 165 FBS players with at least six punts.

Pro Football Focus gave him a 59.2 grade on the seven punts, which had an average hang time of 3.55 seconds - which ranked 76th among 83 Power Five players with at least four punts.

Johnson’s departure opens up another scholarship for the Razorbacks, but does not effect how many players they can bring in as signees or transfers. That number is capped at 29 and wide receiver La’Michael Pettway’s transfer opened enough spots for a full 29.

Instead, the freed scholarship will likely be awarded to a walk-on sometime during the fall. Last season, head coach Chad Morris surprised kicker Connor Limpert, linebacker Grant Morgan and nickel back D’Vone McClure scholarships near the end of fall camp.

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