Report: Illinois transfer Morez Johnson Jr. down to final six after cutting multiple teams

Morez Johnson Jr. had a list of seventeen teams, if not more, reportedly interested in him on Monday. Now, on Tuesday, he’s down to a final six as for where he could commit to out of the NCAA Transfer Portal.

Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports shared the list of six on Twitter per Johnson’s former high school coach Thornton Township. Among his options per that source are Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio State, and Tennessee.

Again, this comes 24 hours after the reported list of teams having interest in him per his representation. However, only half of the finalists were in that group yesterday in the Razorbacks, Wolverines, and Buckeyes as the Jayhawks, Wildcats, and Volunteers are newly involved. That brings him to more interest from the SEC with three along with the two options still in the Big Ten and now one in the Big Ten.

Per the latest in On3’s 2025 Top Transfer Portal Players, Johnson is the No. 26 transfer overall and at No. 15 of those still available in the portal. He’s also the No. 8 PF with him being at No. 5 of those still uncommitted at the position.

This portal recruitment looks to be moving fast for Johnson with this update this morning. All that now leaves is a commitment to come from him to one of these six 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.

More on Morez Johnson Jr.

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.

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.