A familiar name is heading back to Clemson.
Former five-star recruit Hunter Johnson announced his intention to transfer back to Clemson on Monday after spending the past four seasons at Northwestern, per Steve Wiltfong of 247Sports.
Johnson is the first since the portal has become popular, but isn't Clemson's first transfer signee. Dabo Swinney and the Tigers signed Stanford graduate transfer quarterback David Olson in 2014, Oklahoma transfer linebacker Kellen Jones in 2012 and North Carolina A&T transfer kicker Steven Sawicki four years later. Sawicki kicked off twice in 2018 and went 6-for-6 on PATs with a made 26-yard field goal in 2019. Olson, an Irmo native, played 15 snaps over three games during the 2014 season. Jones, who transferred before the NCAA's new rule of allowing athletes to play immediately, totaled 40 tackles in his two years at Clemson before transferring to Wisconsin in 2015.
Johnson, who was rated the No. 30 player, No. 2 pro-style quarterback and No. 1 player in Indiana in the 2016 class, signed with and enrolled at Clemson in January 2017 and played behind Kelly Bryant that fall. Johnson played in seven games to total 234 passing yards with two touchdowns and one interception as the Tigers won an ACC title and made the College Football Playoffs.
The Indiana native then transferred to Northwestern in June 2018.
"We've still got good depth. Now we've got three that I think we can win with. We had four that I felt like we could win with. Now we've got three," Swinney said at the time. "We're in a good spot. There's a lot of people out there that don't have one good one. We've got three good ones. We'll let them battle it out and see who's going to lead the Tigers. I think it'll work out great."
Bryant was the starter at the beginning of the year but then he, too, transferred midway through the year when then-freshman Trevor Lawrence won the starting job four games into the campaign. Chase Brice, who stepped in lift Clemson to a 27-23 comeback win over Syracuse in 2018, eventually also left in 2019.
Johnson sat out the 2018 season due to the transfer rules at that time then started five of six games played as a junior in 2019 and only two games in 2020. The former blue-chip recruit traded time with former South Carolina quarterback Ryan Hilinski during the 2021 season. Hilinski left USC shortly after Shane Beamer was hired to replace Will Muschamp as the head coach in Columbia in December 2020.
Johnson played in 11 games for the Wildcats to mixed results. He completed 95 of 183 passes for five touchdowns and eight interceptions as the Wildcats finished 3-9. He then entered the portal on January 12 before reportedly returning to Clemson five days later.
The Tigers return 2021 starter D.J. Uiagalelei, a sophomore, and are set to bring in five-star recruit Cade Klubnik. Uiagalelei was a mixed bag as he took over for Trevor Lawrence this fall. He completed just 55.6% of his passes for 2,246 yards. Uiagalelei also had more interceptions (10) than touchdowns (9) this fall.
The Tigers finished the season 10-3, good for their 11th consecutive campaign with double-digit victories. Clemson closed the year with a 20-13 win over Iowa State in the Cheez-It Bowl.
