Report: Morez Johnson Jr. receiving portal interest from double-digit programs

Morez Johnson Jr. is one of the top players and power forwards available right now in the NCAA Transfer Portal. That has led to national interest in him all around college basketball per his representation.

Per Jon Rothstein on Monday, Johnson has gained interest from double-digit programs according to his agent. That list includes the likes of Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, DePaul, Georgetown, Iowa, Kansas State, Michigan, NC State, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, USC, UCLA, and Wisconsin.

On3 has been covering the intrigue in Johnson since his entry into the portal on Friday. That includes an update on the latest regarding his transfer options from Joe Tipton earlier on Monday. It’s also of interest that seven of these seventeen teams apparently contacting him are from his own conference in the Big Ten.

Johnson just finished his freshman season with Illinois. He posted 7.0 points, on a school record for freshman field-goal percentage at 64.2%, along with 6.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks over 30 appearances in what is now his lone season with the Fighting Illini.

That’s after Johnson, a Riverdale, Illinois native, was the top-rated signee in the last recruiting class for Illinois. He was the No. 28 overall recruit as a four-star prospect at Thornton Township. He also rated as the No. 5 PF in the class and the top player out of the state. That’s according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies, for 2024. With that, Johnson, with Will Riley, led their No. 20 class in ’24 along with Kasparas Jakucionis, Jason Jakstys, and Tomislav Ivisic.

Per the latest in On3’s 2025 Top Transfer Portal Players, Johnson is currently at No. 26 overall. He’s also rated as the No. 8 PF in the portal right now.

Johnson is one of three players during this cycle so far to leave Champaign. Tre White and Carey Booth have also entered their names into the portal since the end of last week.

Johnson is a sought-after option in the portal based on these transfer destinations across all of the power leagues. That leaves a lot to consider in deciding where he’ll now end up for his sophomore season.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire.

The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.