Myles Johnson announces plan to enter the transfer portal

Rutgers is still mourning a heartbreaking loss to Houston on Sunday night in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Just four days after the loss, center Myles Johnson took to Twitter to announce his plan to enter the transfer portal for his graduate year.

Johnson put together one of the most dominant seasons that a big man at Rutgers has had in quite sometime. He averaged 8.3 points and 8.7 rebounds per game this year. Johnson led the Big Ten in defensive rebounding percentage and fourth in offensive rebounding percentage.

Many thought that Johnson was snubbed as the Defensive Player of the Year in the conference. He had to settle as an All-Defensive team selection. Johnson finished second in the Big Ten in blocks per game with 2.5 and added 1.1 steals per contest.

Johnson’s announcement comes after Jacob Young hinted via Twitter that he will not be returning next season.

Johnson will enter the portal as a grad transfer and will be eligible to play right away next season. The engineering major has made it clear that his studies are very important and this was one of the reasons that he landed at Rutgers in the first place.

This announcement does not completely take a return to Piscataway off the table for the big man.

“I’ve thought about the idea of leaving but I’m still thinking about the possibility of staying here,” Johnson told 247 Sports. “I’ve been accepted into Rutgers already so it’s definitely an option. I’ve been here the whole time so it’s always on the table. If I were to leave the Pac-12 is by my house with good engineering schools, so those would be the top locations. I was looking at UCLA, Stanford, and USC which are the top engineering schools in the PAC-12 that are around me and are competitive.”

The Scarlet Knights exited the season waiting for decisions from three seniors. With Young and Johnson making announcements, the Rutgers faithful will not focus on Geo Baker. He would be eligible to return because of the extra year of eligibility given by the NCAA due to the pandemic.

Baker was asked about his future following the Houston loss and he replied, “No, honestly I haven’t really thought about that.”